Things are Different
by The Awesome Frost Ninja
Summary: It was how it would always go. They would get a distress signal, go there, kick some galra butt, then celebrate a minor victory. As paladins of Voltron that's how it's always been. And the new mission just had to be the same, right? But for one mission, Lance and Keith could push aside the weirdness between them, right? {Training and Growth Sequel}
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'll get straight to point of my absence. I am cursed! Everytime I tried to write this story, things have happened! Weird things! My computer crashed when writing it, not once, but twice! And when I under went an update after that, the file somehow reverted back to a previously saved version that was about 6k words under what I had written before. And then after weeks of university work piling up, I finally found time and motivation to try to work on this again and suddenly my house's power went out because a mouse chewed through wiring. It's been weird. But alas, I never gave up completely. And now one chapter of a two shot story is finally here! Yay!**

 **But for the people that read this, sorry for the wait, and thank you for taking an interest to this fanfic series. It means a lot.**

 **Ok, now that the explanation is out the way, if you're here you'll know that this is the 3rd Instalment to the Agape series; a slow burn klance fanfic series.**

 **I do recommend that you read the previous two stories, because otherwise this isn't going to make much sense.**

 **In a nutshell: In the first one, Keith almost dies protecting Lance. They bond. Lance and Keith become good friends. And in the second one, Keith and Lance start training together and they get even closer and they bond and they almost kiss.**

 **So without further adue, here is the 3rd instalment of Agape. Please Enjoy!**

* * *

Lance stood in front of the mirror in his room. His paladin armour looked as good as new. He made a mental note to thank Coran about it later. He always did an amazing job fixing the armour after each rough mission. Continuing to stare into his reflection a frown was staring back and he knew exactly why. The reason: Keith.

Ever since the one strange moment when they were training together, things between them were... in a word, different. It had been only one night cycle since it happened, but a lot could happen in a day. It was a little awkward. It wasn't that they were constantly uncomfortable with each other, if anything it was the opposite, the two acted normally, but the only difference was that they avoided being alone together. They always had someone else in the room with them. The two spoke to each other as normal and still sat near each other for a good majority of the time, but once someone left and they were alone in a room they'd mutually leave.

The memory came creeping back into Lance's mind. He remembered finally winning at a round of sparring. He had pinned Keith down. Then they were laughing and throwing the odd joke, but then he remembered slowly feeling his head downward towards Keith.

 _No! No! No! No! No! NO!_ Lance internally shrieked. He slammed his head into the wall beside his mirror with each sentence that followed.

"Nope." _Thud._ "Don't remember." _Thud._ "Didn't happen!" Lance only stopped after his head began to hurt.

 _It's nothing! You need to forget it!_ He kept repeating it in his head like a mantra. It was Keith, his teammate, his friend. Whatever it was, it had to be nothing.

The castle's sirens were going and that meant one thing. Allura and Coran must have gotten the intel they needed. Finally, the long awaited new mission had come.

He grabbed his helmet from his bedside and turned on his heels to leave his room. Not watching where he was looking, Lance marched straight out of his room gently colliding with someone that happened to be passing his room. Out of everyone in the entire ship, it just had to be Keith. The two practically leaped a few feet away from each other.

"Oh-Keith! Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Lance nervously babbled.

"It wasn't your fault, I wasn't watching where I was going either." Keith replied back just as nervously as Lance.

The two stood in silence, both looking at the ground.

"So.."

"So.."

Both stopped when they realised they were speaking in unison and let out nervous chuckles. They shared eye contact for a moment only for both of them to look away in opposite directions. Lance began to open his mouth about to suggest that they leave, but Keith beat him to it.

"Well, the sirens are going off so we should head to the control deck." Keith said, pointing down the hall.

Lance nodded. "Right! We shouldn't keep the princess waiting."

The two scurried down the hall, avoiding eye contact with each other. They both knew that with the new mission, they both knew that whatever odd thing was happening between them had to be put aside. They had to focus.

Everyone else was suited up and ready in the control deck. Hunk and Pidge found it surprising that Lance and Keith were walking in together. The two did not fail at noticing their odd behaviour, but they chose to ignore it for the time being. While Coran seemed preoccupied with another task, Allura didn't spare another moment and she explained the situation to the paladins. She brought up a hologram of the planet where their new mission would take place.

"This is the planet Faleea. Coran and I have managed to contact the Faleean king, King Heranel. They're in desperate need of our help," Allura brought up a hologram of a map with markings in blue and purple; the blue representing the Faleeans and the purple represented the Galra. "The Galra have attempted to seize control of their planet. They're in the midst of battle and they are beginning to lose the fight. Whilst the Faleeans have an army, they were not prepared for a galra invasion."

Coran finished tapping away at the main hub and added into the explanation.

"We've explained who we are and that we're here to help. After some persuasion from the princess, King Heranel has given the castle permission to land. He wants to speak to us in person."

The paladins all nodded in understanding.

"Alright. When will we get there?" Hunk asked.

"We just arrived." Coran stated. No one noticed the ship moving toward the planet, let alone the landing.

Walking out of the castle, they saw that the castle of lions had landed in a large field beside large white pillars. Along the ground looked like golden grass, lightly trimmed and well kept. Before the paladins could further absorb their surroundings, they were immediately met by a Faleean. Once the Faleean saw Allura, they gave a curt bow.

"Princess Allura. Welcome. King Heranel is expecting you and your paladins in the council chambers. Please follow me."

The Faleeans looked slightly like Alteans. The clothing they wore were like coloured and patterned togas. The clothes looked quite comfortable. The Faleean race were humanoid aliens with pointed ears, and strange markings, but unlike an Altean the markings were all over their skin with the same kind of pattern. The Faleean escorting them had dark blue circle shapes all over their orange body.

Lance couldn't help but lean in toward Coran and question it.

"So, what's up with their markings?"

"Those are their birth marks," Coran explained. "Many Faleeans can have blue, green, orange or even pink coloured skin. And all the shades of the colours are different to each individual. Their birth marks are also unique, their markings are always an assorted colour to their skin. Sometimes their markings can be all over their body while others might only get them across one limb."

Learning about other alien species and races was always interesting. Out of all the paladins, Pidge was the most fascinated by the other cultures and more specifically, their technology. From what the others saw from walking down the open halls of the Faleean castle, Faleea was a beautiful place. It was something straight out of a fairy tale. Through the open style halls, navy coloured vines and leaves curled around the pillars with teal flowers attached. The castle pillars and walls were made from a marble like substance, swirled with the colours of a sunset.

It was unfortunate that they had so little time to take in their surroundings as they finally got to the council chambers. The room only had a large table-like feature in the centre with a main hub access port on the side. It looked like a large sphere had been cut in half than hollowed out and placed on its side.

"Welcome to Faleea. I am King Heranel." The king gave a curt bow to the paladins. They all mirrored back the action in respect. "It is good to see that the rumours of you being alive are true, Princess Allura."

"Thank you, King Heranel. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

In a brief moment of silence, the paladins got to finally register what the king looked like. King Heranel looked like a large pink man with blue stripes across his face. His shoulders were broad and his posture was proper and upright. His face was stern but his gentle smile carried a sign of kindness. It was the kind of smile that held no evil, that's when they could tell for themselves that King Heranel was a kind king.

King Heranel introduced them to the Faleeans beside him. "These are my children. This is my son, Boulter. And this is my daughter, Arreina."

Prince Boulter was blue with orange markings along his left arm. The markings looked like the shape of butterflies. His slender face was a great contrast to his broad shoulders and defined muscles. His clothes did nothing but show off his strong figure. His face's only imperfection was a scar under his left eye, but many Faleeans would have argued that it made the prince look more desirable. Prince Boulter's eyes were almost hypnotic with their luminous glow of green. His starlight coloured hair was longer than his sister's, neatly combed back and tied back.

The princess was the opposite to her brother, being orange with blue markings down her right arm. Her markings looked as if lightening had struck her arm. She looked much like her brother, but her face was unscathed and her eyes made her seem kind. Her shoulders may have not been broad like her brother but her defined muscle physique made up for it.

While the princess and the prince may have been opposites in colour, they shared the same beauty. The royal siblings looked younger than Shiro, but also still slightly older than the other paladins. As soon as Lance set his eyes on the princess, his flirty façade awoke.

"Well hello, your highness. The name's Lance."

Lance placed a hand on his hip with an obvious cocky look in his eyes. As Lance winked, the princess was amused by Lance's forwardness, letting out a small amused laugh. Keith folded his arms and looked away, annoyed at the sudden display unfolding in front of him.

"Of course." Keith muttered under his breath. Pidge had the most unimpressed look on her face, as she hummed in agreement with Keith.

Shiro ended up stepping in. He gave a short apology and dragged Lance away to stop his flirtatious advances. Keith didn't stop frowning. And his frown only became more evident when he noticed the prince staring at him, looking at him up and down.

At first, Keith thought it might have been a trick of the eye, but once he finally looked at the prince, Keith noticed that the Prince Boulter was still staring. Keith furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at Prince Boulter. The prince may have been pleasing to the eye, but it didn't mean that it made Keith less uncomfortable. Keith gave him a look as if to ask 'why are you looking at me?'. Keith liked to think that he would have come across as quite intimidating, but Prince Boulter didn't seem to think so. If anything, Keith got the opposite of what he was expecting as the prince started to smile.

Pidge was the first to notice the exchange and she immediately knew what the prince was doing. She had seen Lance do it many times before to many girls back in the Garrison and a handful of aliens. With the look in Prince Boulter's eyes and the slight smirk, Pidge knew that he was definitely checking Keith out.

"Boulter. Arreina. You are dismissed for now. I must speak to them alone." King Heranel kindly demanded.

"Of course, father." Prince Boulter replied. The two royal siblings gave their father a short bow before leaving the room.

"You come in our time of need, princess," The king turned to Allura. "I do not know how much more my kingdom can endure."

"We're here to help," Allura affirmed. "So, what was it that you could not tell me before? Why are the Galra here on Faleea?"

King Heranel looked hesitant but he eventually spoke.

"Just know that what I am about to tell you may change how you percieve the situation," King Heranel warned. His hesitance made the atmosphere around them grow heavy. "We have knowledge on the location of the relic of Diesous."

"What!?" Allura's sudden alarm put the paladins on edge. "How can that be possible?"

"The relic of Diesous was said to be a mere myth." Coran blurted out.

The paladins knew that it took a lot to rattle both Allura and Coran. Whatever they were talking about was obviously something probably dangerous.

"Voltron was also said to be a myth and yet here you are," King Heranel pointed out. "My people have carried this secret for over fifteen thousand years. The Galra seemed to believe it was a myth as well, but if my sources are correct, they have found the key."

Shiro finally found an opening to speak, voicing what all the paladins were thinking.

"What's this relic you're talking about? Is it dangerous?" Shiro asked. Allura and Coran exchanged looks and they both frowned.

"Yes, it is extremely dangerous," The princess explained. "By legend, the relic of Diesous was said to be an item of great power being infused with pure quintessence when it was made. It's said to be an object that can focus the energy of quintessence, using the life and energy around it to transfer into power. It was made with the intention of protecting, but it only caused destruction and corruption. With word about this abundant power, many sought to take it for their own, but before anyone had the chance to find the relic, the very beings whom created it knew of their mistake and they locked it away and hid it so well that it could never be seen again. It's said that they locked it in an undetectable box that could contain the power and that the key is the only one of its kind. Following the legend of this relic, many beings sought to use quintessence as power, an example would be the witch, Haggar and her druids."

"If it was so dangerous, why didn't they just destroy it instead of locking it away?" Pidge asked.

It was King Heranel who answered Pidge's question.

"It was said that they tried, but it could not be destroyed. Before they could get close to destroying, they were close to being found by those who sought after the relic. They had no choice except to hide it, hoping that one day those with the desire to find it, but not use its power would be able to find the box and destroy it."

"If the Galra got their hands on the key to that relic, who knows what else they would be capable of." Coran grimly stated. It was unsettling hearing Coran sounding so serious. If they couldn't feel the weight of the information before the paladins most certainly did then.

Allura nodded, turning back to the king. She didn't look skeptical; she was more concerned if not anything else.

"And do you know the location of the box containing the relic?"

King Heranel slowly nodded.

"Yes," He nodded. "It was those here on Faleea that helped create the box to contain the relic over twenty thousand years ago. This secret has been carried down by the royal family for years. I am only telling you this because now is not the time for secrets. My ancestors left riddles of hints to the location on the key. The Galra have yet to decode it but they know that have discovered that the box and key originally came from Faleea. That is why they will not stop. At this point in time the Galra don't know with complete certainty that it is real. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as I can, but I do not want to risk the lives of my people for the sake of this secret."

Allura took a brief moment of silence to contemplate the situation. She let out a calm sigh.

"For now, I think we should just focus on getting the Galra away from Faleea and then we can worry about the relic of Diesous. It holds no harm for now as long as the Galra don't know of its location."

King Heranel nodded. "That, I can agree with."

The king didn't spend another moment pondering on the matter. He moved over to the main access port and tapped away. Suddenly a hologram shot out of the hollowed-out table. The hologram was of a tower that's appearance was clearly a Galran design.

"I trust that Princess Allura has spoken about our current situation," King Heranel received nods from the paladins. "Their communications tower must be taken out."

"When we spoke, you said that you found the location of the energy for the particle barrier was elsewhere." Allura stated. "Why would that be the case? Why not leave the power source within the tower?"

The king nodded acknowledging the logic in Allura's questions. He quickly went on to explain.

"That was my thoughts exactly, but then we found out that the Galran robotic soldiers can enter in and out, but nothing alive can pass through. It's a prototype of some sort," The king explained. "My best guess is that they didn't want to run the risk of electrical interference for the communications tower."

"I see." Allura thought aloud.

King Heranel brought up a hologram of what looked to be an outside of a base.

"The energy is funnelled underground from a generator within this base. We've only recently found its location. I've wanted to send in soldiers, but it's too heavily guarded. Without a proper plan I didn't want to run the risk of the Galra knowing that we know yet."

"I understand," Allura nodded and she suddenly smiled. "And I have plan."

"Which is?" King Heranel's expression grew hopeful.

"We'll take them out all at once." Allura confidently stated.

"How?" Shiro piped in, finally being the first paladin to speak up once more.

"We'll meet them on the battlefield, drawing the attention of most the Galra. This will leave a small opportunity to lower the guards at the locations." Allura explained.

"So a diversion?" King Heranel asked.

Allura nodded.

"With the lowered defences, we can take out the generator that's protecting the communications tower. Through the tower we can override the system and send out a mass shut down to the Galran soldier bots. This will only leave the few Galran Commanders to face the justice of your people."

"I wish it could be that simple," King Heranel sighed. "But my forces are not enough to be a lasting diversion while a small team are also taking out the generator."

"That's where we would come in, your highness," Shiro chimed in, finally understanding Allura's plan. "The other paladins and I can take out the generator and the communications tower."

"Exactly," Allura confirmed. "And you and your forces will not be alone, your highness. The Galra don't know that we're here yet, that gives us the element of surprise. In my castle, I'll be able to provide additional air support and distraction."

King Heranel looked reluctant, but he slowly nodded.

"I have my doubts, but I'm going to put my faith into your plan. So how will it be done?"

Allura gave Shiro a curt nod and his expression immediately switched to that of a leader.

"We're going to have to split up if we're going to do this effectively. We're going to take the stealth approach. Hunk, you'll stay with here with the princess and the soldiers. While Allura and Coran give the air support, you're going to help lead the charge here."

Hunk's eyes immediately looked as if they were bulging from his head.

"Wait what? Really? Me?" Hunk nervously asked. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.

"I trust you. You can do this."

Hunk still looked unsure, but he nodded. Hunk may have not felt ready, but when he could keep a clear head, he could do it. He had more potential than he realised.

"Lance. Keith," Shiro had half of a smirk on his face as he looked to them. "The both of you will be taking out the generator so Pidge and I can deactivate the communications tower."

Lance and Keith exchanged a glance. It was the first time that they managed to hold eye contact since the odd incident at training. Both of their eyes were filled with determination and confidence. The two may have had some odd feelings arising from each other, but none of that mattered in that moment. All the two knew was that together they needed to complete their mission.

The king nodded.

"Very well. I shall assemble my troops. Please make sure you are prepared, paladins. And may the stars watch over us." King Heranel dismissed the meeting.

"Alright, paladins to your lions. Remember to try and remain unseen for as long as possible. This mission is a dangerous one." Allura warned.

When they were walking out, Keith overheard Lance talking to Hunk about Princess Arreina, saying something along the lines that he hoped that he didn't make Allura jealous by winning over Princess Arreina's favour. Keith felt a horrid feeling rise within him. And it was a feeling that he did not recognise nor one he could keep control of.

Shiro noticed Keith's sudden frown and change of attitude just moments prior. He placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"What's with the long face? Is everything okay?" Shiro's concern wasn't hidden. Keith knew it was something he didn't want to talk about, especially with Shiro. He made himself nod.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just thinking about the mission." Keith didn't completely lie. He had been thinking about the mission, but Lance's comments about the princess had quickly interrupted his train of thought. Shiro lightly pushed Keith by placing a hand on his back as if he were guiding him out.

"Have you and Lance been fighting again?" Shiro asked. "You seemed like you were getting along just fine yesterday."

Keith felt like Shiro had looked straight through him. He quickly shook his head at Shiro.

"No, we're okay. It's just that he and I -" Keith didn't know what he was going to say, but he stopped himself from finishing his sentence. Shiro didn't fail to notice this.

"Both of you will have to be on the top of your game for this mission. After seeing the two of you working together during our last training, I have no doubt that you'll both keep each other safe and kick some butt in the process. I have faith in the two of you. It'll be fine." Shiro had this way of saying things that had double meanings. Keith heard it loud a clear. Shiro was hinting at whatever obstacle he and Lance were facing in that they would surpass it by working together.

"Thanks, Shiro."

Shiro gave a small encouraging slap at Keith's shoulder and mentioned something about discussing a few last minute things with the princess. Keith picked up his walking speed to catch up to the nearest paladin, Pidge. As he got closer, he overheard Lance still talking to Hunk about the princess.

"Do you think that Princess Arreina would kiss me as a reward for saving her planet?"

Pidge overheard and her nose wrinkled as she stuck out her tongue is disgust.

"Why does Lance always hit on someone on every planet we go to? He does know that it'll go nowhere, right?" Keith suddenly said. Pidge almost jumped three feet in the air. She didn't know how long Keith had been walking beside her, but either way he still startled her. And on top of that, she wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself.

It took a moment, but the venom in Keith's voice caused something to click in Pidge's brain. If she didn't know any better she would have thought that Keith was jealous. Then suddenly as if Lance had some sort of sensor at the mention of his name, he burst into the middle of the two, throwing his arms over both of their shoulders.

"I don't know about you two, but I have a good feeling about this mission," Lance toothy grin did not lack a small shine. "I'm gonna kick some major Galra butt today, just you wait."

Keith felt that horrible feeling again as he had sudden thoughts rise in his head.

 _He just wants that princess's attention. That's all he cares about. What did you expect?_

Where had those thoughts come from? Keith didn't know but the next thing he knew he felt words rise from the pit of his stomach like vomit.

"Just keep your focus on the mission and try to keep up." Keith snapped. He picked up his pace, letting Lance's hand fall away from his shoulder in the process. Lance's smile disappeared the moment his hand had fallen from Keith's shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance called out after him trying to sound mildly mad, but instead he just sounded more confused.

Keith remained silent as he continued to march down the hall way, picking up his speed. Lance's felt his cocky confidence crumble away.

"What's his problem?" Lance asked Pidge. She shrugged, but she knew that three things were certain. One: Keith was more irritated with Lance's flirting than usual. Two: Lance's crestfallen expression when Keith had walked away almost looked like guilt. And three: After the mission she was definitely going to tell Hunk about it.

* * *

The Faleean army were doing their last preparation for battle while the paladins prepared to leave in their lions, going their separates for their mission. Lance and Keith were keeping their distance from each other, until it was Pidge that forced them to stand side by side.

"Lance! Keith! Get over here, I need to give you these." Hunk passed Lance a small metallic sphere. "This should deactivate and disable the generator for the particle barrier. Just set the charge once it's attached and it should work its magic."

"Thanks Hunk," Keith stared down at the sphere in Lance's hand. "Anything else we should know?"

"Well," Hunk suddenly had a mild kind of unsure expression. "Pidge and I didn't have a lot of time to work out all the kinks so the charge might be too powerful."

Lance cocked an eyebrow up at him.

"Meaning?" Lance asked.

"Meaning, that it might cause the generator to implode due to an overload, but you should be fine." He reassured. "But on the off chance it does happen, I suggest you take cover."

The blue and red pair both stared down at the device with worried expression. A few moments later they were set to leave, Shiro discretely pulled Lance to the side when Keith was being distracted by talking to Pidge.

"How are you feeling?" Shiro's concern didn't go unnoticed by Lance. It just made him confused.

"Me?" Lance cocked an eyebrow upwards. "I'm okay, why the sudden ask?"

"This is our first official mission since Zilate. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." Shiro explained.

Zilate. Oh, how Lance wished he could forget that mission. As long as he lived, Lance knew that he would never get the image of Keith dying while he just helplessly watched from the sidelines out of his head. The only good that came out of that horror was that he and Keith became closer as a result, but was a near-death experience worth a closer friendship? All that Lance knew is that it made him wish that he reached out earlier because maybe it could have been avoided, but he couldn't afford to keep thinking about ' _what if's_ '. At least the ordeal was over and he and Keith were alright and closer as teammates. Lance let out a long breath.

"I'm in tip-top shape, Shiro. I won't let anything like that happen to Keith ever again. You have my word." Lance's voice sounded almost too serious.

Shiro frowned. "I'm not just worried about Keith. I'll rephrase my question, will _you_ be okay on this mission?"

Lance understood and sincerely nodded with a smile appearing on his face. "Yeah. I'm more than ready and I know that Keith is too, Shiro. So, relax. We won't let you down. You worry too much."

Shiro nodded, letting Lance go, watching him walk over to Hunk.

"They'll be fine." Shiro suddenly said. Allura stepped out of her hiding spot, sheepishly walking over to Shiro, knowing that he knew she had been eavesdropping.

"I may be a princess, but you're better at this than I would ever be." Allura admitted.

"You shouldn't cut yourself so short, princess. Lance and Keith are more alike than they think they are. They both bottle up how they feel because they don't want to burden others, but this time around I think they're telling the truth." Shiro reassured. It wasn't that she didn't understand others, it was just the paladins as individuals that she began to learn she needed to tread carefully.

Allura smiled, clasping her hands together. "Thank you. And goodluck, Shiro. Stay safe."

"The same goes to you, princess." Shiro politely bowed and their eyes lingered a moment longer at each other then they needed to be.

They wished the others luck and the plan was whisked into motion. Lance and Keith were going the the generator base while Pidge and Shiro went in their lions toward the Galran communications tower, while Hunk, Allura and Coran stayed behind in the Faleean's castle. Lance immediately noticed that Keith was giving him the cold shoulder when he attempted to speak to him.

While on the way to their destination, Lance flicked his communicator to a private channel just between him and Keith.

"What's been going on with you? Are you okay?" Lance was genuinely concerned and Keith knew it.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Keith did not sound pleased, but more importantly Lance detected a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, you sure sound happy, _grumpy_." Lance teased, hoping to get some sort reaction. Whether it made Keith madder or not, Lance hoped that it would coax the truth out of him.

Keith let out a large groan not saying a word. It left an uncomfortable silence between them for a good few seconds, but suddenly Keith sighed and his voice noticeably lightened up.

"I'm serious, it's nothing. Let's just focus on the mission."

Keith knew how foolish he was being. He didn't even know why he was still angry about Lance flirting with the princess. He flirted with someone on almost every planet they visited. It wasn't like it was a surprise; Lance did it all the time. But it made his blood boil just a little more and he couldn't place why. Keith shook off those thoughts. He needed to keep his head in the present.

"Is this because of..." Lance trailed off. "Nevermind. You're right, we should just focus on the mission."

"Because of what?" Keith pushed at the question, he wanted to hear it.

Lance groaned, knowing that Keith wasn't going to let it go any time soon and that he shouldn't have mentioned it. Lance had always thought he was stubborn, but then he met Keith.

"Because of our last mission on Zilate." Lance cautiously said. He expected a nervous reply to come from Keith admitting to his concerns about the mission because of their previous mission. But that was not the reply he got.

"What? No. It has nothing to do with what happened in our last mission." Keith's bluntness only emphasised to Lance that it was the pure truth and this confused Lance.

"What? Then what's wrong?"

"I already told you, it's nothing." Keith snapped.

"It's not because of what happened yesterday, is it?" Lance regretted saying it the moment it fell from his lips.

Suddenly the memory of the previous day flashed in Keith's mind. The image of Lance slowly dipping his head closer to his and the recollection of a foreign feeling welling inside him suddenly rushed back. Keith felt a heat rush to his ears and cheeks.

"No, of course not!" Keith sputtered the reply. "Why would you think that?"

"That's-well- I just thought..." Lance stuttered and could not form a sentence.

"Do we need to talk about it?" Keith asked with such a tone of sincerity that it made Lance immediately screech.

"No!" Lance was silent for a moment. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't wondering if it meant something. "Unless...Unless you want to talk about it."

"Not really." Keith's reply was blunt, but rushed.

That's how Lance knew that Keith was wondering the same thing, and that fact itself made Lance feel a bit better about it. But what Lance also knew is that it couldn't interfere with their mission. It was something that they probably shouldn't have been discussing on their way to a Galran base.

 _Something happened and it was nothing. That's it. End of story._

Lance shook his head and forcibly changed the subject. "Y-You're right, we should just focus on the mission." Lance's eye brows furrowed in an attempt to increase his focus in flying his lion.

"I'm glad you finally agree with me over something." Keith replied, trying to sound as calm as possible.

If they had been talking face to face, the two of them would have seen that they were as red faced as the other.

* * *

Hiding there lions a good distance away from the base, Lance and Keith remained keeping down near a small hill behind a few boulders, giving them cover so they could scout the area. They were just waiting for Hunk's signal. Lance noted that there were about ten guards around the perimeter. Before he could say something to Keith about it, suddenly six more came out of the base. Lance sighed knowing that it was now sixteen.

"So much for the stealth approach," Lance muttered. "We're going to end up attracting a lot of attention one way or another."

Keith's eyes skimmed over the guards. "We've just got to hit them hard and fast once the other Galran forces reach the castle. The quicker we get through this base, the better." The deadpanned seriousness was evident in his voice.

Lance pulled up a digital schematics. "If there's this many soldiers out here, there has to be at least triple in the lower corridor, here." Lance pointed at the corridor on the map, showing that it was the one before the generator room.

Keith let out what sounded to be a groan of acknowledgement. Lance didn't have to look at Keith to know that he was tense. So Lance attempted to try and defuse the tension in one of the only ways he knew how; teasing.

"I bet I could take out more bots than you." Lance challenged with a smirk on his face. Normally Keith would have groaned and rolled his eyes at the challenge, growling at him to focus, but instead Keith decided to play Lance's little game.

"I'd like to see you try." Keith's own smirk seemed to mirror Lance's own smirk. Lance did not expect the reply and while he was surprised at the response, but it wasn't unwelcome.

"You and that mullet of yours are going to eat my dust." Lance teased as a large grin began crawling up his face.

Keith let out a small huff of laughter. "After this mission I think we need to talk about your weird obsession with my hair."

Lance felt a smile begin to crawl up his face. This was good. They were talking like they normally would. For a moment things felt normal between them again.

"C'mon dude, who has a mullet these days?" Lance teased him once more. "There's this thing called a haircut."

"I'm aware, and I think I just figured out why you have such an obsession with my hair," Keith's voice was monotonous. "It's because you hardly have any hair yourself."

And in that moment, Lance knew that Keith had not just threw back at the banter, but rather Keith had just slammed him in the face with it.

"Well excuse me, Mr emo," Lance couldn't help but laugh it off. Honestly, with Keith's delivery with the comeback, he couldn't even be mad. "You seriously do not have any chill, do you? I don't know whether to be proud of the grace of that comeback or offended."

Keith still had a smirk on his face. "You're not going to deny it?"

"Well, I'll tell you my hair is just the way I like, thank you very much," Lance defended. "Just because I don't have a mop like you do, it doesn't mean I don't have a lot of hair. I take very good care of it. And what about you? Do you even condition your hair? Wait, I'm sorry, do you even know what shampoo is?"

Keith slowly turned his head and stared at Lance with the slightest ghost of a smile.

"Are we really going to start this now?" Normally, Keith would have become annoyed with Lance and his tone would become snarky, but it didn't. Keith just sounded playful and Lance wanted to take advantage of the rare occasion.

"Start?" Lance sarcastically scoffed. "Oh, no. I plan on finishing this."

"Finishing it? Come on, I've already won."

"Really now? Maybe I should just -" Lance suddenly cut himself off midsentence. He didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth, but he stopped himself from saying it before he could finish. Lance turned his head back toward the base. There was a brief silence.

"Just what?" Keith slowly asked, the teasing tone still remained.

Lance turned back to Keith, ready to just say something to brush it off, but yet again, he stopped himself from saying anything. Maybe it was the way Keith was smirking or his tone or by the fact that their faces were so close to each other that Lance couldn't help but not answer and stare.

"It's nothing." Lance didn't even register that he was still staring until he realised that Keith was staring back with a small smile.

"Sure it was." Keith mumbled back.

It was a few moments of a blissful silence, but before either could do anything or say something, Hunk's voice came over the comms.

 _"Guys they're here. It's time to get into position."_

"Okay. Keith and I are about infiltrate the base. Just keep them busy, buddy." Lance replied, his voice back to his usual tone rather than the soft tone he was just using. "Ready?"

Keith thought that Lance must have had a switch in his brain due to how quickly he had ignored whatever moment had just happened between them, but he quickly brushed it off.

"Just try to keep up." Keith stated, materialising his bayard with a smirk.

* * *

A Galran soldier bot doing a perimeter check was suddenly shocked and disabled, falling to the ground. Shiro pulled the bot behind the pillar that he and Pidge were hiding behind.

"Nice work, Pidge." Shiro commented.

Pidge gave a small smile and plugged a cord into the Galran bot, connecting it to her small wrist device.

Whilst the tower would contain more information, her and Shiro thought that it would be a good idea to scan through the bots to see if they had any information as well.

Shiro and Pidge landed their lions a good distance away from the tower. There was no way that the sensors would have picked up on them. Hiding behind the pillar as Pidge tapped away at codes of her device, attempting to hack the bot, Shiro counted about thirteen lingering Galran bots guarding the tower. Four of the thirteen soldiers were in the particle barrier.

There wasn't much else they could do until the particle barrier was shut down.

"Anything yet?" Shiro asked, his eyes still watching the nearby sentries to make sure when they would notice that one of the other sentry bots were missing.

"Just standard rotations so far. I don't think there will be much else I can extract from this guy." Pidge kept tapping away, suddenly pausing at something. "Wait, I take that back. I think I've got something."

Shiro quickly tore his gaze away from the sentries and he crouched down beside Pidge, looking at the screen.

"What've you got?" Shiro couldn't understand a word of the technical jargon, but it was lucky for him that Pidge quickly translated.

"Well, it's coded, but it keeps repeating these words, well, I think they're words." Pidge turned the screen toward Shiro. On the screen it showed an array of lettering with words that neither of them knew.

 **CAEIEC NO LERCI DEHIS EMSYST ELENOPT**

"Do you have any idea what it means?" Shiro asked, blinking at the screen.

Pidge shook her head. "No clue and there's nothing else about it."

"Do you think it's about the relic? Maybe it's one of the riddles the king was talking about." Shiro suggested.

"Maybe," Pidge agreed. "We won't know for sure until we get into the system. The sooner that Lance and Keith take down the barrier the better."

* * *

It started off like a stealth mission, but that was before Keith went charging in before Lance could stop him. They were in the base, so that was a bonus, but they were also surrounded by the Galran soldier bots in a hall way with two doors; the one they entered from and the one they needed to get through.

Back to back they fought against them, instinctively pulling the other out of danger of a blaster or blade. In the midst of their battle, Lance immediately noticed the door beginning to shut. He knew that there wouldn't have been enough time for him to get there. Keith was closer to the door, he was just in the middle of plunging his sword right through a Galran bot's chest.

"Keith!" That was all Lance had to say. Keith took one glance in the direction Lance was looking in and saw the door closing.

"On it!" Keith shouted, pulling his sword from the Galran bot.

Lance gave Keith some cover fire as he ran toward the door. Keith knew that there wasn't going to be a lot of time to stop the door so he did the very next thing he thought of, he slid under the closing door. He got in before the door could be sealed off. Lance didn't have time to react; all his attention was on the remaining bots.

All he could have is to have faith in Keith. He trusted him to be able to take care of the bots on his side. It was a few moments before Lance finished the remaining three bots off. Taking a moment to breathe, he overheard sounds coming from the other side of the door before it got very quiet. Suddenly the door began to open once again and Lance immediately got his blaster back into position ready to shoot. He instantly relaxed when he saw it was just Keith, panting with an array of dismembered bots behind him.

"This way." Keith gestured down the hall. Lance almost laughed. He knew he could leave it to Keith to do something cool and brush it off like it was nothing.

They barely made it past the next corner before they had more Galran bots firing at them. Lance pulled Keith back in time to miss the enemy's fire. Lance took cover in the corner and shot at them when he could, taking out the three sentry guards with deadly precision.

Keith gave him a nod of approval and the two made their way down the hall. At the end of the hall, Keith saw a staircase leading down to the lower level. He was about to bolt down it if it weren't for Lance grabbing him by the back of his collar.

"Woah! Cool your jets, where are you going?" Lance's question made Keith stare at him like he had grown a second head.

"The stairs lead down. That's where we need to go."

"Or we could take the elevator." Lance pointed over to the elevator just a few feet to the side from the staircase.

Keith stared and blinked at the elevator for a few moments before letting out a short, "Oh."

While going down the elevator it was strangely peaceful. Part of the way down, Lance realised that it even had it's own music playing through speakers like back on Earth. Lance whistled along to the tune as the elevator continued to go down to the generator's floor while Keith impatiently tapped his foot.

As soon as those doors opened, the two immediately noticed that the floor had no Galran bots anywhere. The two exchanged a suspicious glance and short nod. With their bayards out, the pair stuck close together. The area appeared to be empty, but the two kept their guard up. Lance pulled out the spherical detonator and he began setting the charge.

He was about to make a remark of how easy it was, but that's when suddenly someone leaped at them from the shadows. Keith turned in time to have their blades clash with one another. Not even a moment later, Lance shot at the figure. The figure backed off, dodging the blasts as he leaped back.

"Paladins of Voltron? Why does this not surprise me. I guess we were bound to meet one way or another," The figure walked out from the shadows. It was unsurprisingly a galra soldier. "I am commander Farsh's first in command, the great Salog. He will be pleased to hear of me gaining both the red and the blue paladins as my prisoners."

Lance couldn't help but snort with a laughter at how close the Galra's commander's name came to the word 'fart'. Keith picked up on this as well and elbowed Lance in the side to silently say 'I know it's amusing but we need to be serious right now'. The Galra seemed almost too cocky as well. Keith was hoping to use that to their advantage. Luckily for the two of them, the Galra did not notice Lance's stifled laughter and he pulled out a heavy metal sphere attached to a chain.

"Shall we begin?"

* * *

In the meanwhile back near the castle at the battlefield, it would have been a grand understatement to say that Hunk was stressed. The king had not been joking when he said that his armies would not be able to provide a distraction for long. Whilst the Faleean soldiers fought valiantly, they were no match for the Galra defences. A large majority of the Faleeans were close range fighters while the Galran bots were a mix of both close and long ranged.

It was in those kinds of moments that he wished he had Lance with him. Lance always had a knack for strategy, both back at the Garrison and even more so as a paladin (even if Lance himself didn't realise it). Lance may have not been with him, but Hunk quickly figured out what he had to do.

He still tried to wrap his head around why Shiro had chosen him to stay behind and advise the armies. Confidence boost? Probably.

 _'Thanks, Shiro._ ' Hunk sarcastically thought to himself, wishing he was stress baking something in the kitchen rather than in the heat of battle. Pulling back out his bayard's cannon, he shot down some incoming Galran bots so it would give him a moment to focus. He and Allura had to draw the fire away from the Faleean village.

"Allura, we'll need to draw in the enemy fire while the Faleeans prepare a long ranged assault." Hunk had to admit that it felt odd to order around the princess.

 _"Right!"_ Allura yelled back in the comms. The Faleean general luckily was running past when Hunk had come up with the plan.

"General!" Hunk stopped him in his tracks. "We need everyone to fall back now and get the archers ready! We need to keep them away from the village!"

" _Fall back_?" The General sneered, puffing his chest out to make himself appear bigger than he was. "If we do that, our race shall be seen as cowardly! And it's far too late for archers!"

Hunk may have had a kind heart, but he was ready to yell some harsh words at the general.

"Any closer and the Galra will be in the villages! Don't you care about the safety of your people? We need to take the long ranged approach!"

Hunk didn't have to say anything further as the Faleean prince, Boulter, entered the scene immediately approached the General.

"The king's orders are to listen to the paladins!" The prince snapped. "Are you attempting to defy your king!?"

The General immediately dipped his head down in shame. "Of course not, your grace."

"Then listen! Tell the troops to fall back and tell my sister along with the other archers to get ready!" Prince Boulter ordered.

The general scrambled away, yelling orders to the nearby soldiers. Hunk watched in awe at what unravelled before him.

"Thanks." Hunk said with a small smile.

"Don't thank me just yet," Prince Boulter replied, placing a reassuring hand on Hunk's shoulder. "I hope this new strategy of yours works, I do. Don't let us down, yellow paladin." And with that, Prince Boulter spotted a limping soldier and immediately went to help him walk.

Hunk had to have faith that it would work because if it didn't, more Faleeans would be captured or hurt.

 _No pressure._ Hunk thought to himself. Hunk buried his anxious doubt down within him. He had to get to his lion and hopefully stall enough time for the mass shut down.

* * *

It may have been two against one, but the Galra had been stronger and smarter than both had previous anticipated. Keith had been the one to charge first, but it was Lance who took the first hit, pushing Keith away from harm. Keith knew that Lance was going to keep trying to protect him, so Keith always kept leaping in before Lance could catch up. The Galra, Salog, must have had some blaster resistant and that it was only more effective when he was at a close range.

Keith was thrown against the wall for a fourth time by the ball and chain. A pained gasp escaped from his lungs on impact. Keith fell to the ground, his vision blurring and his hearing was fading. Keith could hear the distant call of his name, but it sounded so far away.

It took Keith a moment to realise that Lance had rushed in, stopping the Galra soldier from continuing to make Keith his own personal punching bag. Lance slammed his bayard across Salog's head and shot at his kneecap. Salog screamed at the searing pain.

Keith forced himself to regain what was left of his consciousness. He couldn't leave Lance to fight alone. Keith's vision was clearing up and the very first thing he saw was the Galran commander holding Lance up by his throat. Lance was pinned to the wall by Salog.

A rage overcame Keith. It could only be described as pure rage because never had flashes of red appeared before his vision so quickly. The newfound rage replenished his energy and strength. Back on his feet he grabbed his sword and hissed at the Galran commander gripping at Lance's throat.

"Get away from him!" Keith twirled the handle of his sword in his hand. "Your fight is with me!"

The Galran snapped his head toward Keith. He saw as Keith discarded his helmet to the side with a fire burning in his eyes. Salog knew that Keith was initiating a silent challenge. As a Galra, he was not going to back down.

The Galra abruptly released Lance from his grasp. Lance gasped, taking in a large breath of air, coughing in the process. His lungs burned in his chest, but he still tried to regulate his breathing. While Lance tried to catch his breath, both Keith and the Galran commander had begun their fight.

It was sword against sword. Keith was more prepared a second time around. The swords collided over and over again. The two were evenly matched in strength. While stuck in the middle of blocking the Salog's sword, in the corner of Keith's eye he saw Lance pulling up his blaster getting ready to shoot at the galra.

"No! This is my fight!" Keith hissed, pushing back against Salog's sword, making him back off momentarily.

Lance could tell from the fire in Keith's eyes that he should listen to Keith and not interfere. Lance kept his finger near the trigger of his blaster, ready to step in if he had to, but he had faith in Keith. He wasn't going to lose the fight.

Keith barely had time to dodge, weaving out of the blades path, but not before it nicked the right side of his cheek. Keith barely flinched, the adrenaline blocking off any source of pain. Keith blocked the blade and parried with his own, finally managing to disarm the galra. As the Galra's blade went skidding across the floor, he turned his head back to Keith in time to see his fist before it connected with his face.

Salog fell to the ground unconscious as Keith grunted in pain. While knocking out the galra with a punch had been satisfying, it felt like he was punching a wall that was made out of steel. However, the pain went numb quickly. He won the fight and that's what mattered to him. While Keith was rubbing his knuckles, Lance made his way over to him.

"Nice going, samurai," Lance encouragingly slapped the back of Keith's shoulder. "I didn't know that you had that in you."

Honestly, neither did Keith. Where that sudden push of strength came from was a mystery. All he knew is that Lance was in trouble and he needed to stop it.

"We should set the charge." Keith stated, changing the subject.

"Right." Lance nodded, running over to the detonator.

While Lance was resetting the charge, Keith saw a pair of handcuffs hanging from the unconscious commander's belt. He cuffed the commander to a nearby pillar.

"It's set." Lance turned his communicator off of radio silence. "The particle barrier is about to come down, guys. Shiro and Pidge, you guys better be ready."

Once Lance activated it, both he and Keith backed away. The electrical pulse shot through it, overriding the generator. But the sparks quickly got out of hand. The pulse was too strong like Hunk had guessed. The overload was too much for the system. The main hub began sparking and smoke began rising from it. It was going to blow and there wasn't enough time to get out of there.

"Get down!" Lance shouted, tackling Keith to ground using his own body to try and shield him as the main hub finally imploded, bursting into flames.

* * *

After finally getting Lance's signal, Shiro and Pidge watched as the shield disappeared.

"Let's move!" Shiro stated, immediately letting his robotic arm glow, taking out the Galran bots near the pillar where the two were hiding. Shiro and Pidge immediately invaded the tower. Shiro easily took out the lingering guards in the halls. Pidge managed to get a few of them down herself before Shiro could take them down.

Running up the tower was a tiring job. It was all stairs. But with what was at stake, the two did not slow down. Shiro took as many of them down as he could.

Finally getting to the top of the tower, Pidge shocked the remaining Galran bot.

Pidge practically tripped over and landed on the control panel of the main hub. Pidge began to work her magic on the main hub once Shiro placed his hand against the panel. Pidge groaned at the codes appearing on the screen, it had been like she previously had guessed. She needed to go through more than a few layers of security in order to initiate the override. She worked as fast as her hands could type.

In the meanwhile, Hunk and his lion flew over the Galran bots, taking heavy fire in the process. Both the yellow lion and the castle provided cover fire for the Faleean soldiers as they shot arrows at the bots. The arrows were working, but there was too many of them. But it did keep them at bay and away from the village nearest the castle, long enough for the other villagers to be evacuated.

"We're taking too much fire. We're going to have to pull back!" Coran informed as Allura had to pull the castle up and away out of range.

Hunk knew that he wouldn't last too much longer either. He quickly switched his comms back on.

"I'm not trying to rush you guys, but the castle and my lion can't take much more enemy fire." Hunk nervously yelled into his comm. Hunk took another hit as soon as he said that. The yellow lion's alarms were blaring and the everything began to glow red, warning him that the armoured lion wouldn't last too much longer. A few more hits and he would become a goner.

Hunk used some evasive manuverises and continues to lead the soldiers into the range of the arrow fire of the Faleeans, but the bots still got a few shots in. Each blast inched Hunk closer and closer to the complete shut down of his lion.

Pidge knew this and she pushed herself to the absolute limit her brain would allow her to go. And it was just like that she finally found a way to crack down the coded security walls like a pack of dominoes.

"Hold on, Hunk! Almost..." Pidge sped up her typing the Galran text for 'access granted' appeared on the screen. Pidge slammed her fingers against the final keystrokes. "Got it!"

Hunk squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the final blow, but it never came. In the span of a few ticks, the Galran bots dropped down to the ground motionless and the battle field became quiet. Hunk let out a massive sigh of relief as he listened to the cheers of the Faleeans that they had finally won a battle against the Galran invaders.

"They did it!" Hunk exclaimed, resting his hand on the control pad of his lion. "Nice going out there."

* * *

With his eyes tightly shut, Lance couldn't tell how long it was lasting. He tightly clung to Keith as the left over debris blew across the room in flames. He had one hand on the back of Keith's head forcibly holding Keith to his chest while the other hand was wrapped around him. If they hadn't been surrounded by debris than someone could have assumed that they were a couple, intimately embracing.

After the main hub imploded, Lance and Keith stayed like that a few moments longer than they had to.

"Are you okay?" Lance asked, loosening his grip around Keith but he still held Keith in his arms.

"I'm fine." Keith sat up, looking over at Lance. "What about you?"

"I'm good." Lance replied.

Only after knowing that Lance was unharmed did Keith then realised that he was in Lance's arms. Keith swiftly pulled himself away. Keith didn't want to admit it to himself, but there was just something about being in Lance's arms that felt...right. But he pushed that thought to the deepest crevice of his mind.

The two got up from the ground taking a look at their surroundings. It wasn't as bad as they thought. The generator was in pieces scattered across the room with the main computer panel blown and in flames. By some miracle, Salog was unscathed by the whole ordeal.

"We should leave him here for the Faleeans." Lance suggested.

Keith nodded in agreement. There would have been no point in taking the galra with them. It wouldn't take long for the Faleeans to arrive after the mass shutdown. Lance picked up Keith's helmet, he was in the middle of silently passing it over to Keith when he noticed blood seeping out of the cut from Keith's cheek.

"Your cut is starting to bleed a lot."

Without thinking, Lance gently wiped the blood away with his thumb. Once Lance realised what he did, he retracted his hand away.

"We should head back to our lions." Lance suggested. Keith noticed the shortest limp in Lance's step. Keith immediately forced Lance's arm over him and helped him walk.

Instead of denying it, Lance attempted to down play it. "It doesn't hurt that much. I can walk."

"Sure. Whatever you say." Keith muttered, not letting go of Lance. And it wasn't that Lance put up much of a fight.

The two remained in a silence that was neither awkward or pleasant. It was as if they were both still processing the whole mission they had just completed. Once they were outside the base, the sunlight of Faleea's sun shined over them. It was a pleasant heat that the two welcomed after coming from the cold of the Galran base. They silently communicated with each other as Lance decided he didn't need Keith's help anymore.

"How's your throat?" Keith finally asked, breaking the silence between them.

Lance brushed one of his hands across it.

"It's alright, but I've had better days." Lance shrugged it off.

"You might want to go in a healing pod for a while. It's going to leave one nasty bruise." Keith stated, still staring at the red around Lance's throat.

Lance just shrugged.

"Nah, what would be the fun in that? It's my battle wound. I'll live," Lance said. "Besides, I think the chicks will dig it." Lance joked.

Keith left out a short huff of laughter that almost sounded real. Lance was still Lance, that wasn't going to change.

"What about you? You got knocked up pretty bad." Lance pointed out.

It was Keith's turn to shrug it off.

"I'll live."

But the thing about the light of a sun is that it illuminates certain features. Lance saw the large bump on Keith's head and the cut on the side of his face still had a trail of dried blood.

"Are you sure that you didn't want to go in the healing pod for a while?" Lance didn't even bother to hide his concern.

"Why?" Keith asked. "Do you think that the cut will scar?" Keith meant it as a joking jab, knowing if the roles were reversed, Lance would be complaining about scarring his 'beautiful face'. But Lance didn't take it as a joke, he took it quite literally. The next Keith knew was the Lance was taking off his helmet. Lance placed the helmet in Keith's hands. Before Keith could ask what he was doing, suddenly Lance was holding his face in place as he inspected the cut.

"Hold still for a second." Lance quietly commanded.

Keith immediately froze at the contact. Lance didn't notice how Keith's eyes had widened for a moment. Keith had expected Lance to be frantic and rough, but that was not the case. Lance was calm and his touch was gentle. He was treating Keith not like he was fragile, but rather something precious. Lance gave him all his focus and attention in doing everything he could not to harm Keith as he brushed his fingers against the cut. Even through Lance's armour gloved hands, his touch to Keith's face was placid and smooth. Lance used his thumb to try and wipe away some of the excess blood.

"Does it hurt?" Lance asked. His tone of voice was kind and soft, much like his touch. It was a different side to Lance that Keith hadn't seen before. It shocked him.

"N-No," Keith wanted to curse at himself for stuttering. He attempted to recover the sentence. "I can barely feel it."

Lance let out a small hum, acknowledging that he had been listening.

"It's not too deep. You should be fine." Lance smiled.

Lance let his hands fall away from Keith's face. Lance slowly pulled away remembering that there should be some sort of boundary between them. Oddly enough it wasn't because it was something too intimate to be doing it to a friend, but because he knew how Keith would push away physical contact. But then suddenly there it was again; the silence. The silence made them both experience a feeling that couldn't be explained. The same silence that had appeared during their training session the previous day.

Lance was going to force himself to step away to create more space between them, but he just didn't move. If it weren't for Keith's helmet between them, they probably would have gotten closer to each other. But even with the helmet between them they were closer than they should have been.

Keith couldn't help but wonder how Lance could be so different in a matter of moments. One moment he could be a flirtatious joker with a childish sense of humour. And the next he could be a competitive pilot with shooting abilities that could rival Keith's talent for the blade, and the next moment after that, Lance could be a kind, gentle, caring person that would desperately fight for his friends. And yet, all those different sides of him were still all the same old Lance. To Keith, Lance was a one of a kind person. No one in the universe could compare to him.

To Keith, it was just a fact that Lance was special.

Shiro's voice came over their communicators.

 _"We've taken down the tower. Good job team Voltron. We did it! Mission accomplished."_

They mutually stepped away from each other, but unlike the last time there was no awkward tension. If anything they just grew comfortable with whatever it was.

Allura's voice came over the communicator after Shiro's.

 _"You all did great, paladins. We'll meet you back at the castle."_

Keith placed his helmet back on his head and he was the one to answer back.

"Got it. Lance and I will see you there." Keith turned off his comm and turned to Lance. "We should head back."

Like they were listening to Keith, on cue, a few Faleean speeders arrived base. Lance's sudden smile made something go off in Keith. He felt as if his chest tightened with a tension like he had forgot to breathe for a moment. Keith didn't know what he meant, but he didn't like it.

 _What is this?_ Keith internally panicked.

"You know," Lance began. "I can beat you back to the castle in a race, easy."

Keith smirked, "Really now?"

"Yes, I do," Lance grinned. "Ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!"

As Lance took off running, well, more like his attempt to run with an injured leg, toward the blue lion. It took Keith a moment to realise what was happening. Keith almost laughed as he called out after him as they ran.

"That's cheating!"

It didn't take Keith long to catch up to Lance. The tension in Keith's chest vanished as he ran, but the memory of it lingered in his mind. He thought that maybe it was just the adrenaline still pumping through him, but deep down, Keith knew that it wasn't.

* * *

Once they got back to the castle, they agreed to a draw, but Lance still labelled himself the winner.

Team Voltron all met out the front of the castle, greeting each other with smiles as another mission was accomplished. After how badly it went down on Zilate, they were all relieved to see each other still in one piece. Lance gave a brief explanation of what went down between him, Keith, and the Galra: Salog.

"I'm proud of all you. You've all done a remarkable job," Allura praised. "Especially you, Hunk. You lead the army surprisingly well."

"It's more like I just gave them some advice. I wish I could have done more."

"Don't say that. You just praise from the princess. That's a very high honour, buddy," Lance threw an arm over Hunk. "If anything, I'm so jealous right now." Lance joked. Keith noticed that the oddest part was that normally, Lance would probably be jealous, but in that instance, he wasn't. Maybe it was because it was Hunk, or maybe it wasn't. Either way, Keith didn't humour the sudden thought anymore than he had to and he let it slip away quite quickly.

"I managed to copy the data from the tower on to a hard drive. I'll need some time to decode it, but I think after going through a few files that I found something on the relic that the Galra are after." Pidge informed.

"We should go find King Heranel." Coran suggested. "Our next objective is making sure the Galra don't get their hands on it. It is far too dangerous."

"Agreed." Allura nodded, leading the way to find the king.

As the paladins were leaving the front courtyard the Faleeans that arrived at the base as Keith and Lance left were leading the Galra they had fought, Salog in chains. Keith felt like that Galra was going to try something so he trusted his instincts and lingered behind.

What the Faleeans and even Keith failed to notice was that the Galra had a pick and he slowly picked at the lock of his cuffs discretely. The king had already been on his way out when the team were going to go look for him. The king and Allura became engaged into a conversation as the Faleeans lead the Galra prisoner to Prince Boulter.

"So, you're the prince? Interesting. You look just as Commander Farsh's report said you would look like." The Galra, Salog sneered.

"Take him to the dungeon to await trial." Prince Boulter commanded, ignoring the threatening tone of the Galra.

As Salog was passing the prince, he finally got himself free from his cuffs and he seized the dagger of the Faleean soldier beside him. The Galra was quick, he knocked out the soldier and charged at the nearest target; the prince.

But before the Galra could get close to the prince, Keith immediately shoved the prince out of the way while barely having enough time to dodge the blade. Keith grabbed on to the Galra's arm, disarming him. Before Keith had a chance to do anything else, the other soldiers had grabbed a hold of Salog.

"You're all fools!" Salog laughed. "Commander Farsh will find the relic! He will stop at nothing!" The Faleean soldier finally managed to knock out the Galra and subdued him.

Keith turned away from the Galra and extended a hand toward the prince.

"Are you okay?" Keith didn't ask it in any unique way, but for some reason, the prince seemed to see something like sparkles around Keith like a halo of light.

Prince Boulter had previously thought that Keith was the most handsome out of the paladins, but that was just an aesthetic opinion. However, that moment he saw a hero that had just saved his life. The prince believed that life was made from many moments, and in that moment in particular he believed that it was the beginnings of love.

"Yes, thank you." Prince Boulter accepted Keith's hand, getting back to his feet. "And may I ask for your name? I would like to know of the name of my rescuer."

"Keith."

"Thank you, red paladin: Keith." The prince was not subtle with his affectionate tone, attempting to subtly caress Keith's hand with his thumb. However, it just left Keith looking at him strangely before he finally pulled his hand away from the prince. The others rushed over, overhearing the commotion.

"Are you both okay?" King Heranel asked, frantically looking over to his son.

The prince nodded.

"What happened?" Allura questioned, seeing the Galra being dragged away. Lance shot a glare at the unconscious Galra before he was about to ask, but before Keith could answer, Boulter did.

"I am fine, father. I should have been more alert. The red paladin saved me from the Galra." Prince Boulter smiled once again at Keith.

King Heranel turned to Keith.

"Thank you for saving my son. I will not forget this."

"It's no problem at all," Keith had to be lightly nudged by Shiro to be a bit politer. "Your majesty." Keith added.

King Heranel looked toward Allura and the others.

"I would like to have a celebration tonight at the castle to celebrate our victory here today and to honour those who fought. We would be beyond honoured if you and the members of Voltron would join us." King Heranel smiled.

Allura was about to interject saying something about how much time they had, but that's when the king leant in close to Allura so only she could hear.

"I will tell you all I know during the celebration. I have reason to believe that the Galra have ears within my castle walls. I have faith in my people, but my trust does not make me blind. An exchange of information during a gala is something they would not suspect and it'll be the safest way of telling you this information," The king pull away and stopped whispering. "And besides, the heroes that helped save Faleea deserved to be celebrated, even if it is one night."

Allura noted. "You make a compelling argument, King Heranel. I and the paladin, humbly accept your offer."

"I will begin arrangements," King Heranel gave a curt nod. "A victory gala shall be in order. Boulter. Arreina. I'll leave the arrangements to you."

As the king left, the paladins began to question Allura as to what was happening while the royal siblings were left to discuss plans of the gala.

"Gala?" Shiro asked, previously overhearing part of the conversation. "With everything we still need to do?" Shiro tried to keep it as discrete as possible since Prince Boulter was only a few feet away, talking to his sister.

"Yes, the king would like to honour us. It would be rude refuse. I will tell you about the details of proper etiquette once we're back in the castle. So, we shall discuss it back at the castle." By Allura's tone and her use of repeating herself, the paladins knew that there was something more.

It wasn't that Allura felt like Heranel implied at his own children when he suggested spies in the walls of the castle, but from their meeting previously before the battle, Heranel didn't want his children to hear about the relic. He was merely a father trying to protect his children and Allura wanted to keep it that way.

"I suggest that you all rest as we prepare," Princess Arreina suddenly said to them. "At sundown, we shall send for someone to come and get you."

"Thank you for your kind hospitality." Allura forced a smile.

"I'm looking forward to this. The Faleeans are known from how enjoyable their celebrations are. I haven't been to one in decapades!" Coran commented. "Well, it would technically be ten thousand years and a few decapades by now, wouldn't it?"

"We shall make it the grandest party you have ever been to. For foday is a celebration. The galra have terrorised us for too long, well, that was until all of you brave paladins came along." Arreina laughed.

Lance couldn't help that the remark was meant for him at the end of that sentence.

The prince nodded, "I look forward to the gala tonight." Boulter looked directly at Keith as the words fell from his lips, but it was lucky for him that Keith wasn't looking at him when he did.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter is the gala and things get...well, no spoilers. I hope you enjoyed this and that you'll stick around for chapter 2 of this two shot.**

 **Also, confession: I've never been a big fan of OC's in fanfic, well, more so writing OC's in my fanfics I mean. It was with this fic in particular it couldn't be helped because Voltron (the show itself) is a space adventure and characters are going to be in and out of the show all of the time. So I'm trying to keep as close to how I think the show would be like in my fanfics. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, that they will only be in this story (and maybe mentioned briefly in future instalments).  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry about the wait everyone. I won't go into too much detail of such a late ending for the chapter, but basically my life is like a comedy sitcom of events but without the laughter.**

 **But it's also because of what the fandom is becoming. I think most of us can agree that the Voltron fandom is becoming so toxic. And this war against ships and the whole blackmail incident... It just makes me feel embarrassed to be a part of this fandom sometimes, more importantly, I feel almost ashamed to be a klance shipper, just because erratic shippers give us a bad name. But I still want to hold on to the hope that things can get better for the fandom. Sheith or Klance or whatever you ship, NO ONE should attack another person due to a fictional pairing. It is as simple as that. I know that this has been said to death already, but I just hope that a majority of you reading agree.**

 **Also, don't get me wrong, I do still plan on finishing this series, it's just that this mini series will most likely be the only Voltron/Klance related fanfic I write. And this is the last installment that I will be uploading to fanfic. The final ones are only going to be uploaded to my AO3 account. Cheers.**

* * *

Once back in the security of the Castle of Lions, Allura allowed the paladins to seat themselves down before she explained. Shiro was sitting upright and he was fully attentive. In contrast, the rest of the team looked far more relaxed. Keith sat more like Shiro, but he remained more relaxed and loose. Meanwhile, beside Keith, Lance sat upside down with his head almost touching the floor. And across from them, Hunk stretched his limbs out across the couch while Pidge kept to her own little spot with her legs crossed as she tapped away on her holopad.

During the entire explanation, Allura paced in thought as she spoke. It was lucky for the paladins that Allura was a bit lost in thought because they didn't seem like they were listening, aside from Shiro. But they all tuned in to the last part of her explanation.

"I do not blame him for taking this precaution. The relic of Diesous is a weapon capable of mass destruction after all." Allura's eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Hunk was the one to speak up, wanting some clarification on the subject.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Okay, so I have been listening, but someone needs to explain this to me again," Hunk began. "So, why haven't the Galra tried going after this relic before? Isn't this like how they were after Voltron? You'd think that they would stop at nothing to get their hands on it.

"It has always been a legend. No one ever thought it was real. Honestly speaking, I'm still not convinced that it's real, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Allura replied, her fingers strumming against her own crossed arms.

"My guess is that the Galra that were attacking Faleea are a separate sector that still serve Zarkon but maintain more freedom regarding orders," Coran added. "I doubt that many Galra would have entertained the idea of this legend."

"That would explain why there was more bots than actual soldiers." Pidge said, not even sparing a glance away from her holographic touch screen. She had finished transmitting the data. It was now all a matter of deciphering and decoding.

"For now, I expect you all to be polite for this celebration." Allura commanded. "I don't necessarily want any of you to cause a scene, but the more attention you attract to yourself socially, the better. If there are spies, I'd like them to be distracted for as long as possible."

It was at this point that Lance unceremoniously flipped himself to sit up right on to the couch.

"Wait, so our mission now is to socialise at a party?" Lance looked almost too excited.

"To an extent, yes. I also expect you all to wear the traditional paladin robes tonight." Allura stated.

Hunk was the first to ask.

"Paladin robes?"

"Yes," Coran answered. "They should be in the bottom drawers of your closets."

Keith was the first to complain.

"Why can't we just wear our armour? We did it back on Arus." Keith did bring up a good point. However, Allura just sighed.

"The Arusians felt more secure seeing you all in your armour, but for the Faleeans I feel that it would have an opposite effect. I believe seeing you all still in your armour would make them nervous. Besides, I want King Heranel to feel that we are taking every precaution to drive away suspicion."

Pidge kept blinking at her holopad's screen.

"Shiro, those words keep popping up every time I go searching for anything about the relic." Pidge suddenly turned the screen toward Shiro.

Allura cocked her head to the side. "Words?"

Shiro explained what Pidge had found on the system earlier during their mission. This drew the attention of everyone else in the room. On the screen was the strange arrangement of words once again.

 **CAEIEC NO LERCI DEHIS EMSYST ELENOPT**

"Do you know what they mean?" Pidge asked the princess. "Is it another language?"

To Pidge's disappointment, Allura shook her head. "None that I know. Coran?"

Coran looked over the screen as he pinched at his own moustache.

"It's nothing that I know of either. Princess, this is something you ought to ask King Heranel about." Coran replied.

"I'll keep going through and decoding files," Pidge sighed, tapping away once again. "There has to be something more to it."

As she was typing away, Shiro pulled the holopad away from her.

"Hey -"

"That should be enough for now, we all need to get ready for the celebration," Shiro stated, turning his head toward the others. "Everyone, report back in hour."

"But -" Pidge began.

"I agree with Shiro. You've done an excellent job today, Pidge, but there's nothing more we can do. Besides, you could use a break," Allura intervened.

"You'll get it back after the Gala." Shiro added before he followed then walked out with the holopad. Allura shortly followed afterwards.

Pidge was left, sitting there with a sour expression and a massive pout plastered on her face. Hunk offered a reassuring smile while Lance didn't bother hiding his stifled laughs. He had always had the inside joke of Shiro being like a 'dad', but by him 'grounding' Pidge, only solidified that joke for him. Lance's laughs only came to a halt when he felt a sudden, small and painful sensation in the side of his arm. Lance yelped and jolted away from the painful contact. Lance quickly realised what had happened.

Keith had pinched him.

"Dude!" Lance screeched, immediately rubbing at his arm trying to sooth the pain.

That's when Pidge finally got off the couch, letting out a large 'HA!' at Lance before she high-fived Keith as she passed by. Lance let out a large over dramatic gasp as Hunk gave Keith a thumbs up. Hunk shrugged at the look of betrayal on Lance's face.

"I have never felt so betrayed! And from my best bud!" Lance dramatically flopped back down into the couch.

Before the playful banter could continue, Coran finally spoke up.

"Come on, you lot. They'll be plenty of time to argue later. You heard Shiro and the princess. Chop chop! There's no time to waste. You all need to look as fresh as a sangutle." Did Coran have a demanding tone like Shiro or Allura? No, but that one time they all decided to listen.

"Sangutle?" Hunk asked as he and Pidge walked along side each other out of the room with Coran.

"It's like a freethal." Coran explained.

Neither Pidge nor Hunk bothered asking what a 'freethal' was. Once the others were gone, Keith let out a small huff of air and attempted to stand up and leave. But suddenly Lance's hand shot up and grabbed his forearm.

"Nah-Uh. Where do you think you're going?" Lance rhetorically asked. "We're going to deal with that cut first then you can go brood or whatever it is that you do to pep yourself for a party."

Keith ignored the last comment. "The small cut on my cheek? I can bandage it myself." Keith attempted to move away from Lance's grasp, but Lance just tightened his grip.

"Do you even know where the disinfectant is?"

Keith blinked for a few good moments in silence. "There's disinfectant?"

Lance sighed with a frown growing on his face. "You're hopeless. Stay here."

Keith knew that if he tried to run that Lance would just hunt him down so he listened and patiently sat until Lance came back. Lance didn't take as long as Keith thought he would and he came back in with a small box. Lance noted the look of surprise coming from Keith's face.

"They are all over the castle." Lance frowned.

"Whatever." Keith muttered. He knew he had nothing to argue back so he just kept quiet.

Normally, Lance would have bickered back, but he decided to leave the argument - well, he wouldn't call it an argument, more like a very minor disagreement. Lance opened up the med-kit and rummaged through it, going through labels on tubes and jars until he found a small jar with a green lid. The disinfectant in the jar was a yellow gel. Lance scooped a small amount on to his fingers.

"This might sting a little," Lance said. He waited for a small nod of acknowledgement from Keith before he applied it to the cut. Lance hadn't been slightly false about the gel. It barely stung, if anything it was just cold.

"Wow, that really burns," Keith said, making his face twinged pretending that it stung the side of his face. Keith was hoping to carry the playful banter Lance had just had with Hunk to a conversation of their own. However, Keith didn't get the reaction he wanted. Lance stared back at the jar and re-read the label.

"It's not meant to...Well, apparently, this gel can also can stop early signs of poisoning when applied to an open wound. Handy," It took Lance a second to fully absorb what the label read. His eyes suddenly widened. "Wait! You don't think that the Galra's sword was poisoned, do you?"

"What? No," Keith immediately replied. "Lance, calm down. I was kidding."

"Oh." That's all Lance could say after that. Lance silently placed the jar away and got out the bandages. The two remained silent after that.

Lance was a little clumsier after that, pushing at the cut, only stopping when Keith grimaced.

"Sorry." Lance muttered, but it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere.

 _Poison_. The word repeated in Lance's mind. No matter how much he could forget, the memories came rushing back.

He hadn't been thinking about it during the mission, but with silence, the thoughts of Zilate crawled back into his mind. Lance never felt more useless, remembering that Keith had to save him yet again. Lance was just thankful that it was only a small cut on his cheek rather than a gaping hole in his shoulder.

Lance was just about finished when his hand may have lingered on Keith's bandaged cheek longer than necessary. It was enough for Keith to notice that something was wrong.

"What is it?" Keith lacked a demanding tone. It was soft and quiet. Lance felt his chest twinge in pain at the sudden calmness in Keith's voice and how it drew him back into reality.

"You need to be more careful." Lance suddenly said, finally breaking out of his 'auto-pilot' mode as he began to place all the leftover materials back into the med-kit.

"I could say the same to you," Keith replied, the slight fragment of teasing grew in his voice. "If I remember correctly, I wasn't the one being choked."

"Right." Lance averted his eyes away from Keith's gaze.

"You weren't like this a minute ago. What's wrong?" Keith asked, but he quickly realised what Lance had been thinking about. "This is about Zilate again, isn't it? "

"I couldn't help you," Lance's voice had the kind of calmness that was unsettling. "I couldn't do anything to stop that Galra from attacking you. And in the end, you just ended up saving my life, again."

Keith blinked at Lance incredulously. "Is that what you think? Lance, I would have been finished if you didn't try to fight back when I was down."

"But -"

"No, I was there, I know what I saw. You saved my life first. Don't discourage yourself. It's not your job to protect me. And even if it was, trust me, you'd be doing a good job."

Normally, words of encouragement would not help with the nagging feeling in the back of his mind, but it was because they had come from Keith that the feeling was momentarily silence. Lance flashed a brief smile of gratitude. He then tried to revive a better mood by changing the subject as quickly as he could.

"Okay, well, you're all set. You can get ready now."

"Right. If you need me I'll be in a dark room staring at a wall as I ponder the meaning of life." Keith monotonously said with a deadpanned expression.

Lance stared at him and blinked in silence. Lance would've liked to say that he knew that Keith was joking, but he instead just stared trying to process what Keith had said. Keith's serious expression melted away to reveal a confused and uncertain one.

"That was a joke." Keith slowly clarified.

Lance let out a long and genuine laugh. "You actually had me there for a second." Lance confessed.

Keith clapped a hand against Lance's shoulder as he passed him and he left to get ready. Lance sat there on the couch until Keith left and the warmth that had gathered on his shoulder vanished.

* * *

Lance went through an entire routine in the shower. After a mission, he had a very repetitive routine. Skin and hair care was very important to the blue paladin. It was lucky for him that the Alteans seemed to have the same appreciation for beauty care. The castle bathrooms were filled with all sorts of lotions, scented oils, body washes, and many other things. It was one of the things that made Lance feel more at home in the castle. And the fact that it made his skin feel silky smooth was another bonus.

The clothes may have been called 'robes', but they were not. It was a lot like what they wore underneath their armour. It was a tight one piece-esque suit, but unlike the one worn underneath their armour, this one was white – so it was more like the healing pod suit, but looser. The rest of the outfit looked like a ballet costume rip off from The Nutcracker. Thankfully, the clothes were a lot looser than a ballet costume.

Lance's long-sleeved blouse matched the blue of his lion, with the paladin crest sewn into the centre with silver thread. The pants were white and the ends of the pants were tucked within the long black boots that came along with it. Lance kept admiring himself in the mirror, practicing some sort of speech.

"Oh- Hey there. I didn't notice you there. I'm Lance. I'm a paladin of Voltron. I pilot the blue lion. In other words, I'm a legendary defender of the universe," Lance paused, as if to wait for a response from the fake and imaginary conversation. "Well of course, I'd love to dance. I'm a great dancer back on my home planet, Earth. I should take you there some time, but you know, saving the universe comes first."

Checking the time, Lance realised that it was almost time to meet up with the others in the common room.

He took three steps out the door and around the corner when he collided with something. The 'something' turned out to be someone, and that someone was Keith.

Lance didn't even realise he had been staring until Keith's voice cut through his train of thought.

"It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that looks ridiculous." Keith pointed out as he fiddled at his sleeves.

Lance couldn't help but stare for a moment. Keith looked ... good. The way Lance would have put it is that the look suited Keith better than it did him. Keith wore an identical outfit. The only difference was that his coat was red whilst Lance had a blue one. But something was amiss. It less than a few seconds for Lance to figure it out. Keith wasn't wearing his fingerless gloves.

"Woah!" Lance exclaimed causing Keith's eyes to widen and slightly flinch.

"What?" Keith asked, a slight defence rose in his eyes.

"You're not wearing your gloves! I can actually see your whole hands!"

"Well - they didn't really suit the clothes." Keith slowly explained, looking down at his own hands thinking that something must have been wrong by the way Lance was staring at them.

It wasn't that anything was particularly special about them. Keith's hands were plain and ordinary looking hands. But it was the first time Lance had seen them without any gloves - well, aside from when they went to the Garrison, but Lance hadn't paid a lot of attention to Keith's hands back then. In fact - why was he paying such close attention now? Lance shook himself out of it.

"Well, you're looking as sharp as that knife of yours. Who knew you could actually clean up nicely." Lance flashed a small smile.

The compliment was potentially harmless, but it somehow managed to make something bubble up within Keith and it felt like his brain turned to mush.

"I - You - Well - You too. Yeah."

Keith immediately felt a spike of sudden panic shoot through him. Why was he stuttering? He never stuttered.

At Keith's reaction, Lance felt his own panic rising in his chest. What was the stuttering all about?

"Umm – You. We. We should – ummm." Lance couldn't get the words out. He couldn't help but briefly wonder if he had somehow caught Keith's sudden stuttering.

"We should go." Keith finished for him.

"Yes!" Lance vigorously nodded. "Common room! Party! Going! Yes!"

Lance wanted to scream at himself. Now, he was just embarrassing himself in front of Keith.

Thankfully, Keith didn't seem to register it too much and he just muttered a small 'yeah', before the made their way to the common room to meet the others.

Everyone wore matching outfits, but matched to the colour of their lions. Shiro had even slicked his hair back. Allura and Coran wore their usual attire.

"Remember all you need to do is keep a sharp eye out and to not cause a suspicious scene," Allura reminded them all. "But most of all, I want you to all to relax and have fun while you can."

Most of the team felt that it was a little bit surprising that Allura was telling them to enjoy themselves. No one complained, but part of them knew that it was going to be a long night.

* * *

"If it weren't for Voltron, we'd all be still fighting. May we maintain this peace. And our gratitude for you is never ending. Once again, thank you. And let the party begin!"

The crowds of Faleeans clapped and cheered, agreeing with their king. It all slowly began to settle down as some musicians began to play their instruments. The music had all sorts of different sounding instruments. If the paladins had to take a guess at what instruments they sounded like, it would have been the drums and flute.

Everyone ended up going off somewhere on their own which left Lance and Keith by themselves by the drinks table.

"Where did Hunk go?" Lance asked, taking a small sip from one of the two cups he held.

"I think he went to check out the food with Pidge," Keith replied. "Where's Shiro?"

"He's greeting some military officials with Allura and Coran." Lance stated, passing Keith the other drink in his hand.

"Thanks." Keith stared down at the pink liquid within the cup. "What does it taste like?"

Lance smacked his lips together after taking another sip. His eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"It's sort of like if you mixed cherry soda with a butt-load of sour gummies. It's a mix of sweet and sour. It's not bad. I like it." Lance took another sip.

Watching Lance drinking it, Keith mimicked him and drank from his cup. Keith surprised himself with how much he liked it as well.

"At least it's not nunvil." Keith remarked, taking another sip.

Lance visibly shivered. "Ugh – Don't even remind me."

"Wow, but I thought it was your absolute favourite drink." Keith took another sip of the pink drink.

Lance snapped his head toward Keith with the most unimpressed look.

"Oh HA- _HA_. Very funny, Keith." Lance rolled his eyes. "It's almost scary how your sarcasm sounds so real sometimes."

"It used to drive Shiro nuts."

Lance felt like a switch was immediately flipped in his mind. Keith was talking about his past. It was a rare sign. Lance's attention was on.

"I feel like there's a story behind that little remark." Lance mused.

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "When he and I first met, I don't think I said a single word that wasn't brutally honest. I said whatever I thought of someone or something almost immediately. It was how I grew up. I couldn't afford to not get to the point. But I wasn't exactly the politest kid in the world either. So, skip forward to about a few months later, and – well, I can't remember exactly what it was about, but all I know is that it was boring and Shiro said something along the lines of 'would it kill you to at least pretend you're interested?'. For his sake, I pretended, but from that day it slowly morphed into my sense of humour. Shiro never knew when I was being serious and when I wasn't and I never told him when I was, so, it was chaos for a while there."

Lance knew Keith was always direct and honest. But it he just found it so strange that Keith was so honest with his opinions, but he kept so much of his past and emotions to himself. But Lance supposed that was a consequence of his lonely childhood; being honest but never with or about himself. But then Lance also guessed that to a smaller degree, that was the same with all people in a way. In the end, it still came down to privacy and trust.

Lance slowly let out a small chuckle.

"That explains a lot," Lance teased. "Little sarcastic rebel Keith Kogane."

"I was twelve!" Keith countered.

"Seriously though, I think Pidge is been too much of a sass-influence on you because you're getting better at timing it." Lance nodded to himself.

"And I've been hanging around you and your lame jokes for too long, so it's easy to tell what's a good and what's a bad joke." Keith teased.

"It's more like you're my protégé," Lance grinned. "And you're stuck with me in space, your sense of humour is bound to improve."

"Sure." Keith muttered, turning his head away to drink from his cup.

"Come on. Admit it." Lance playfully poked Keith's arm.

"Admit what?"

"You've gotten funnier because of me." Lance cheekily smirked.

"I was always funny." Keith snorted.

"Really now?" Lance teasingly remarked.

"I just never felt close enough to you before to try and joke around before." Keith didn't know why the confession just slipped from. Maybe it was from whatever they were drinking.

Lance's smile became ridiculously wide and Keith felt the compulsion to look away. It was lucky for Keith that Lance's train of thought quickly shifted.

"It's a bit crazy, isn't it?" Lance abruptly said. "We didn't even form Voltron to save this planet, but we still managed to do it. So, all this really feels like we really did something. It's like – I feel like we're really doing something to make a difference. Do you know what I mean?"

"Not really," Keith shook his head. "Even in our lions it's still someone piloting it. Whether we're forming Voltron or not, inside and out the lions, we're all still the defenders of the universe."

Lance didn't know how Keith did it. Keith always had a way of saying something like that while sounding like it was a pure fact and it always made Lance feel warmth in his chest. Lance smiled once again. Keith looked over to Lance.

"What is it?" Keith cocked his head to the side. Lance thought how innocent it made Keith look when he did that.

"Nothing, it's just you." Lance honestly stated.

Keith's eyebrow furrowed in confusion, but he didn't tear his gaze away from him. Lance's eyes had something about them. It took a moment for Keith to realise that it was something that looked a lot like warmth.

"There they are!"

Lance and Keith snapped their gaze away from each other and to the sudden and familiar voice. It was the princess of Faleea. Princess Arreina was the first member of the royal family to spot the pair in the waves of crowd. She brought her friends over as a small hoard of Faleean ladies in waiting.

"Good day to you, paladins. I've been looking for you. I hope you're having fun this evening. This celebration is in honour of you all. Please enjoy what you can." The princess brightly smiled.

"Thank you, princess. Everything looks great."

"On the note of aesthetics, you look particularly handsome tonight, blue paladin." Princess Arreina complimented. Lance couldn't help but internally smirk. The princess was smooth when it came to the flirting game.

"I could say the same about you, because you are look stunning, your highness," Lance smirked and winked, trying to lean closer to the princess. "And please, call me Lance."

Princess Arreina's friends giggled at Lance's flirtatious behaviour.

Keith witnessed the whole exchange and let out a quiet and annoyed huff as he rolled his eyes. Slowly, Keith managed to back himself away from the group so he could slip away unnoticed.

Lance flirted with anyone he deemed attractive. That was a fact. And for Lance that was a lot of alien women. Keith honestly did not understand and nor did he want to understand why he felt the need to flirt every five seconds. It was in that moment that Keith could not explain the horrible prickling feeling running through him.

After a few introductions with the other ladies, Lance said another joke-style pickup line to her, earning a collective laugh from all of them. While they laughed Lance glanced around expecting to see Keith hovering nearby, but Keith was on the other side of the room, isolated from the crowds in a corner with a drink in his hand. Lance excused himself momentarily and went over to Keith.

"Hey, sorry. I got a little side tracked."

Keith didn't reply. He just took another sip from his drink. Lance felt tension rising in the air and it caused a nervousness to come prickling up his spine.

"By the way, Princess Arreina has some friends that I know that are dying to meet you. I can introduce you." Lance forced a smile, giving a playful nudge at Keith's arm.

Keith didn't smile at the gesture and he wasn't amused. Lance felt the nervous tingling inside him to turn cold.

"I think I'll pass," Keith took yet another small sip of the pink liquid, seeing the princess glancing over at them obviously waiting for Lance to return. "You should head back. They're expecting you."

"And leave you just to hang out here alone?" Lance meant it to sound rhetorical, but Keith answered.

"That would be the idea." Keith stared down into his glass.

"Keith -"

"It's okay, really. Go have fun." Keith calmly insisted, taking a few steps back preparing to leave in the opposite direction.

Lance felt like something had pierced his chest when he saw Keith backing away. Before Lance could say anything else, the princess was calling back out to him.

"Lance, come on."

Keith frowned toward the ground when Lance turned his head toward the princess and gave her a small wave. When looked back, Keith quickly forced a smile and turned to leave. Lance was left in a daze with a hand slightly outstretched. He was about to stop Keith by grabbing on to his wrist, but he froze. Before he had another chance to change his mind once more, the princess made her way over to him with her friends.

"Lance! What was making you take so long?" The princess asked, hooking her arm around Lance's.

"N-Nothing." Lance made sure to make it sound convincing, but something about just didn't feel right.

It was strange. Lance suddenly felt something that felt a lot like guilt. It felt like he had just done something he shouldn't have and that he had to apologise. But what would he be apologising for? He always flirted with most good-looking aliens and Keith always seemed to disapprove. So why did it feel different now?

Lance didn't know the answer, but what he did know is that it made a strange feeling in his gut that was nowhere near pleasant.

* * *

Hunk and Pidge were examining and tasting the food when they both spotted Keith standing off on his own.

"Oh-Man. What do you think is up with Keith? He looks pretty mad." Hunk pointed out, still holding his mountain high plate of food.

Pidge stared for a moment. Keith didn't look mad, if anything, he looked a little sad.

"I'll be back in a sec." Without giving it a second thought, Pidge strode over towards Keith's direction.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Pidge hesitantly asked, lightly resting her hand against Keith's arm.

Keith nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Pidge always found computers easier than people, but the off-tone Keith was using was far too easy to notice. She immediately noted that Keith's eyes kept averting to his left. Pidge discretely glanced to the left. Lance was with Princess Arreina and her friends. Pidge connected two and two and concluded that Lance had likely ditched Keith to talk to them.

Pidge let out an annoyed huff. No wonder Keith's expression was so sour. She went back behind Keith and began pushing him forwards.

"Come on. We're going to the food tables. Hunk and I have been testing them all out. It's so much better than the food goo."

Keith didn't bother to argue or object. Hunk pretended to turn around like he hadn't been watching the exchange from across the room. Luckily for Hunk, Keith didn't seem to register it. Hunk saw Keith's sour expression and he immediately felt compelled to make him feel better. And Hunk instantly thought of comfort food.

"Keith, my buddy! Try this! It tastes like a custard bun, but with a spicy finish." Hunk shoved the purple pastry into Keith's mouth before he could reply.

Keith pulled the bun from his mouth, taking a bite in the process. Keith cautiously began to chew it. Keith's eyes widened.

"Wow. That's actually good."

"Exactly! I need to hunt down the recipes for half of the stuff on this table. It's so good! The blend of sweet foods with a small kick of spice is true art." Hunk's eyes began sparkling with admiration.

"This has to be the most Earth-esque food we've had in a long time." Pidge added.

Hunk was about to add another comment, but he spotted a Faleean in what looked to be a chef hat across the room.

"Hey, excuse me! You wouldn't have made all this, would you?" Hunk yelled, immediately attempting to run over to the chef before they disappeared.

Pidge sighed.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on Hunk before he freaks out the locals," Pidge frowned. "I'll be with Hunk if you need us, okay?"

"Sure." Keith had an inkling of a smile on his face. Pidge took it as a good sign and turned to go after Hunk.

Pidge may have not known how people work very well, but she could tell that something was going on between Lance and Keith. That much she was certain of.

After Pidge had turn around, Keith briefly glanced around the ballroom. He spotted Lance in moments. The princess hooked her arm around his. Keith tore his gaze away with a frown and he turned back to the food, aggressively devouring the rest of his space dessert roll.

However, what Keith didn't see once he looked away was Lance politely pulling his arm away and excusing himself away from Princess Arreina's grasp. Perhaps if Lance had spotted Keith in the crowd, he would have gone over to him. But instead, Lance walked in the opposite direction.

* * *

While Coran was mingling with some of the locals, Shiro and Allura were speaking with a few of the nobles when Shiro spotted Keith alone by the desserts spread. Keith didn't even look like he was chewing the food, he was more swallowing it immediately like a pelican. Shiro politely excused himself from the conversation and strolled over to Keith.

"Hungry?" Shiro lightly nudged Keith's arm to gain his attention. Keith finished swallowing his mouthful of food.

"No." Keith answered, but he then continued to shove more food into his mouth. Shiro knew that Keith was a closet sweet-tooth, but he never ate a lot. And with the mouthfuls he was eating, it was a worrisome amount.

"Are you okay?" Shiro asked.

"Yes." The reply was far too quick. Shiro knew immediately that something was bothering Keith.

Shiro had known Keith for years and never once had he caught him stress eating. He had seen Keith stressed before, but that was an intense kind of stress that caused Keith to stop eating all together. So, what Shiro was witnessing was all new to him.

"Keith, what's wrong?" Shiro may have rephrased it, but he was still repeating the same question.

"Nothing. I'm fine," Keith insisted, grabbing a drink from the spread. "Can I go back to the castle?"

"We've only been here for about half of an hour, it would look too suspicious if you suddenly left," Shiro frowned. "Besides, the paladin who saved the prince ought to stay for about an hour, don't you think?"

Keith thought to himself that he'd slip away when Shiro and Allura weren't looking. In response, he gulped down the entire drink in one go. To say Shiro was concerned about Keith's sudden hunger and thirst would have been an understatement.

"At this rate, you're going to get a stomach ache. I think after that one you should take a break from the food and drinks, don't you think so too?" Shiro may have phrased it like a question, but Keith knew it was gentle demand to stop drinking and eating for a while.

Keith opened his mouth to interject, but he suddenly felt eyes on him.

"There they are!" Allura smiled. She wasn't alone either, she was with the Faleean prince. Allura brought Prince Boulter over to them. Shiro decided to break the ice quickly as he introduced himself to the prince.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Shiro, the black paladin and leader of Voltron. It's a pleasure to finally properly meet you, your highness." Shiro gave a curt bow.

"The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for everything you've done for Faleea. We are in your debt." Prince Boulter's eyes drifting back to Keith. "Especially you, red paladin: Keith. You saved my life."

"It was no trouble at all, your highness," Keith politely assured. "And please, it's just Keith. There's no need to be so formal."

"Keith." Prince Boulter slowly repeated.

He had repeated the name to himself earlier, but after getting Keith's permission, Prince Boulter began smiling as he continued to stare at him. Keith notably looked at the prince strangely. The prince snapped out of his daze.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to offend you," Prince Boulter apologised. "It's just that you have such beautiful eyes. I've never seen anyone with that colour before."

"Oh," That was the first thing to come out of Keith's mouth. He was more confused if anything. "Thanks." Keith then went to drink from yet another cup he grabbed off the table.

Shiro knew Keith wasn't used to it, but he couldn't help but wonder if Keith realised that the prince was trying to flirt with him. But then again, what the prince had said could have been understood as a harmless compliment. The colour of Keith's eyes looked indigo with a touch of grey. His eyes were unique, even for alien standards.

Suddenly, the band began to play a slower, but more upbeat instrumental song and the prince immediately perked up.

"I'm sorry to be rash, but I do enjoy this song," Prince Boulter smiled. "Keith, will you be my dancing partner?"

Keith choked on his drink while Allura looked ecstatic at the suggestion.

"Of course, he'd be honoured!" Allura exclaimed. Keith wasn't too impressed with the fact that Allura spoke for him when he was standing right there.

"May I have this dance?" Prince Boulter out-stretched his arm toward Keith. Allura and Shiro stared at Keith as he blinked at the prince.

"But I don't know this dance." Keith replied, trying to be as polite as possible to attempt to get out of it.

"It is more than alright," The prince took Keith's hand into his own. "All you need to do is follow my lead. I'll teach you. Let's consider this lesson as a small token of my gratitude for saving my life."

Prince Boulter began to drag Keith with him. Keith looked back at Shiro with panicked eyes. Shiro merely smiled, silently assuring Keith that he would do fine and he took the drink from his hands before the prince pulled him away.

"I apologise for my son's forwardness, but he is quite fond of the red paladin."

Allura and Shiro turned toward the voice knowing exactly who it was.

"King Heranel." Shiro greeted.

The king smiled and looked to Allura.

"Boulter has always known how to catch the eyes of an audience without realising. Perhaps this would be a good time for us to talk."

"Agreed," Allura turned to Shiro. "I'll be back shortly."

"Of course." Shiro watched the king and Allura slip away from the crowd. He noticed that no one seemed to be paying any close attention so once they disappeared in the crowd, Shiro kept his guard up.

* * *

 _Stupid Keith_ , Lance thought to himself. Ever since Keith had disappeared, Lance just couldn't bring himself to keep having fun. He just lost his partying mood. Princess Arreina had gone with a few friends to get some refreshments, leaving Lance to wallow in his dying mood.

"Why so glum, blue paladin?"

He looked toward the source. It was one of Princess Arreina's friends. She wore more jewellery than the rest of her friends. Lance didn't know why he noticed that of all things, but he attempted to revive himself with a good conversation.

"I'm not glum. I'm just thinking. You know how it is, saving the universe and all." That was all he could come up with.

"Of course, you would have a lot on your mind," She laughed. "But your mind seems elsewhere from this gala. Is something troubling you?"

That was the question that Lance kept wondering to himself. The answer was yes, but he couldn't figure out exactly why. He had tried to reach out to Keith and get him involved with the mingling, but he didn't want to. So why did he feel so guilty?

Lance attempted to shake it off once again and tried to change the subject.

"I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Lance, and you are…?"

"Vailee. I'm Princess Arreina's lady-in-waiting." The Faleean did a short curtsy. The large blue gem against her golden bracelet stood out to Lance.

"I like your bracelet." Lance commented. He felt like all his pizazz had disappeared. It was strange.

"Thank you," she smiled. "It was from someone very special to me."

"Is it from your lover?" Lance smirked, attempting to joke with her.

Vailee's expression dropped for a good few moments before she rushed a reply. "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me, but I will need to retire for a moment."

Lance instantly thought that he had brought up a rough subject which apparently frightened her off. Lance knew he wasn't in the right mind set. He needed to take a second to breathe and not think about his conflicting moods, but most importantly to not think about Keith.

"Is she alright?" Princess Arreina asked, returning with a drink in hand.

Lance took one look at her and he just knew he couldn't keep up with his flirting antics. He didn't want to. And so, Lance did the only thing he could think to do.

"I'm sorry, princess, but I need to go."

He walked away.

* * *

"Wait. What? No way."

"Yeah." Pidge nodded.

"This is Lance and Keith we're talking about." Hunk clarified for about the fifth time.

"I'm just telling you what I saw."

It was after Hunk finished probing the Faleaan chefs that Pidge suddenly veered him to the side and she told Hunk what she had witnessed earlier that day. Pidge confessed her suspicions about Keith and Lance.

"Pidge, I'm sure that this is just a case of friend-jealousy," Hunk stated with such certainty.

"Friend-jealousy?" Pidge asked.

"It's a real thing." Hunk explained. "Think about it this way. They're finally getting along better. Keith didn't exactly have a lot of friends back at the Garrison. So, he finally has friends; us. And he doesn't want that to change so if Lance got with someone, that would mean less time with him and us,"

"That makes sense but I don't know," Pidge shrugged, but suddenly her eyes slid to their left. She stared for a moment before she cocked her head toward what she was seeing. "What's up with Lance? He's been like that for a while now,"

"Huh?" Hunk blinked.

Pidge had to point over toward Lance. Hunk looked over and immediately understood what she meant. Lance was on his own staring into the bottom of his glass. A few of Arreina's friends approached him. Even from a distance, Pidge and Hunk could tell that Lance was politely declining an offer, which they assumed was to dance. Pidge wasn't wrong, Lance had been like that for a while. He hadn't been flirting with anyone. He just made casual conversation. He wasn't showing off or making jokes. It was odd.

"I know this will sound weird coming from me, but why isn't he acting all flirty? Princess Arreina seemed pretty into him, which is something that never usually happens and he isn't even remotely near her. Should we be worried?" Pidge asked.

"I'll go see what's up." Hunk replied. He discretely made his way over to Lance, grabbing a cup of the pink drink on his way over.

When Lance placed down his empty cup on the nearby table, suddenly one appeared in front of his face.

"Hey man, you looked like you could use this." Hunk passed Lance the cup.

Lance muttered some small thanks and took a small sip from the cup. When Lance didn't say much else, Hunk decided to carry the conversation.

"So, why aren't you out dancing?" Hunk asked. "You love dancing."

"I just don't feel like it." Lance muttered, swishing his cup around swirling the contents within.

Hunk stared at him and frowned. Something was wrong. Hunk kept staring until Lance eventually looked back to him.

"What's wrong?" Hunk's question sounded more like a demand.

"Nothing's wrong." Lance fired back as his eyes averted away from Hunk's gaze.

"Lance." Hunk stepped in front of Lance to get him to look at him. "Spill it. What's wrong?"

"Well," Lance continued to swirl his cup. "I just don't feel up to it. Is that really so weird?"

"For you, yes," Hunk continued to suspiciously eye his best friend as he folded his arms across his chest. "You literally have a princess adoring you and you've been keeping clear from her. All I'm saying is that it's unlike you."

Lance shrugged and Hunk kept staring at him as a response. It was only a matter of a few ticks before Lance eventually began to flatter under the pressure of Hunk's gaze.

"What?" Lance blinked at him.

"Dude, you cannot lie to me, you can try, but you will fail," Hunk explained. "Did she shoot you down?"

"What? No." Lance replied. If anything, he was trying to avoid the princess. Not because she was awful company, but because he didn't feel up to entertaining others.

"Then what's wrong?" Hunk pushed forward with his question.

Before Lance could bring himself to make up another excuse or answer, suddenly there was a delighted murmuring coming from the crowds around them. Lance wasn't too interested at it so he kept staring into his cup. However, it still made Hunk curious and by looking up he did not fail to see a certain red paladin among the crowd and other pairs of Faleeans dancing.

"Wait….That's Keith dancing with the prince!"

That caught Lance's attention instantly. Scanning the waves of Faleeans dancing he saw Keith dancing with the prince just as Hunk said.

"Why is Keith dancing with him!?" Lance frantically asked. "Since when does Keith dance!?"

Pidge made her way over to the two.

"I see you've spotted who the prince is dancing with," She laughed. "I never thought I'd ever see Keith dance with anyone, let alone Prince Boulter."

"He looks like he's having fun. It's good to see him finally loosen up." Hunk smiled.

"Are you kidding me? Keith looks miserable!" Lance snorted.

The three all looked back over to Keith to see a ghost of a smile grace his face as he stared down at his feet, finally getting the hang of how the footing worked.

"Oh yeah," Pidge's sarcasm was obvious. "He looks _so_ miserable."

Lance said nothing else. He just muttered something under his breath and frowned as he strummed his fingers against his cup watching as the two danced.

The prince pulled Keith closer to him and his hand on Keith's back lowered ever so slightly. No one would have been able to see it if they weren't paying close attention. Unfortunately, this meant that Lance noticed.

Pidge briefly looked over to Lance and she could have sworn that she saw a crack forming in the cup that Lance had been holding. He was gripping at it so tightly that it looked ready to break in his hand.

Suddenly Lance loudly and angrily gulped down the remaining liquid from his cup and slammed the empty cup down beside the table.

"Who does that prince think he is? Did you see that!? Any lower and his hand would be on Keith's butt!"

"Why were you looking at Keith's butt?" Pidge snorted.

"I wasn't!" Lance quickly snapped. "But the prince is up to something! Look!"

Hunk and Pidge looked back over to Keith and Boulter. As Keith stared down at his feet concentrating, Boulter also looked down. The prince was saying something, and Keith nodded. The prince was obviously telling Keith how the footing should go. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

Pidge and Hunk stared back at Lance.

"He was acting weird just a second ago!" Lance defended.

Hunk just blinked in confusion whilst Pidge let out a quiet huff of laughter.

As the song came to an end, Boulter slowly spun and dipped Keith. It low enough so Keith had no choice but to grab on to Boulter on instinct so he didn't fall flat on the ground. Lance wasn't much of a lip reader, but he could clearly tell what Boulter said from afar which was 'don't worry, I wouldn't let you fall'.

Lance mockingly muttered the same phrase under his breath. Who did that prince think he was? Flirting with Keith of all people too. Keith didn't even know what a fist bump properly was until just a few days prior. So, why did the prince obviously assume that Keith knew he was trying to flirt? Keith was Lance's friend, so Lance knew Keith enough to know that he probably had no clue about what the prince's real intentions were.

The song ended and a small applause came from the crowd as everyone stopped dancing.

"How's everyone doing?" Shiro asked, finally having spotted and approached the trio.

"Shiro, how could you let this happen!?" Lance exclaimed, almost sounding hysterical.

"Huh?" Shiro didn't expect for Lance to be so alert.

"That prince is not even trying to hide it! They were doing the wango!"

"Mango?" Shiro asked.

"Wango," Hunk clarified. "As in a mash-up of the words waltz and tango."

Shiro semi-nodded to himself. The dance did appear to be a crossover between the waltz and the tango.

"If we lose track of them, Prince Desperate might try to – wait, where did they go?" Lance snapped his head around, looking for them in the crowds.

The others also began to scan the area. Boulter and Keith weren't in the centre of the ballroom anymore.

Lance managed to spot Keith's mullet from the crowd. There would never be an occasion where he wouldn't recognise the mullet. Prince Boulter had his hand on Keith's shoulder, leading him somewhere else away from the crowd.

It didn't take genius to know that Boulter wanted privacy with Keith. Lance felt like a vein popped in his head. A sense of protectiveness spiked through Lance.

"Nope, that's not happening. That's my friend, buster. And Keith probably doesn't even know what you're up to so that makes him out of bounds! Not on my watch."

Before Lance could march off toward them, Shiro placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Keith can take care of himself, Lance. I'm sure if the prince does try anything he doesn't like, he'll let him know."

Lance let out a slow sigh, appearing to calm himself down.

"You're right." Lance agreed. But then suddenly he perked up and began walking away. "Still, someone should keep an eye on him. Prince Fabio is sending me some creepy vibes."

"Wait – Lance!" But Lance was already gone. Shiro let out an exasperated sigh, but he didn't go after him. It would only be Lance's fault if Keith found out and got mad.

* * *

Prince Boulter kept insisting on showing him the view from the balcony. Keith didn't put too much thought into and agreed. And the balcony was a sight to see, Keith would admit to that much.

The balcony was completely open to the night sky with no other Faleeans there. The only lighting was the few lanterns of light within the three candle posts beside the marble railing and the many stars above.

"What do you think?" Prince Boulter asked.

"It's nice." Keith confessed, looking up to the sky. Boulter smiled at the answer.

Lance poked his head around the archway, watching the two. Lance remembered groaning to himself, constantly asking himself why he was watching Keith and the prince. It was a total invasion of privacy, but he justified it by saying to himself that he knew that the prince was up to something. So, he continued to peek around the corner, observing them.

"And just below the balcony is the royal garden." The prince pointed over the railing.

Keith glanced over and the royal garden was illuminated by firefly looking bugs and a few lamp posts scattered about with orbs of light in its centre. The light reflected off the golden grass, scattering a shine throughout the foliage. The various coloured flowers speckled in the garden were illuminated like gemstones. And in the very centre of the garden was a fountain, carved from beige marble. It was a sight to see.

"Wow." Keith absent-mindedly commented.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? Doesn't it just take your breath away?" Prince Boulter said this not looking at the garden, but directly staring at Keith. But Keith didn't notice as he continued looking down at the garden.

However, Lance saw and he dramatically pretended to gag in his mouth. He wanted to cringe at every little line the prince said. Ironically, it would be similar to something he would say when hitting on someone as well, but being hypocritical of Prince Boulter was the least of Lance's concerns.

"It's beautiful, but I wouldn't say that it takes my breath away." Keith admitted before he flinched at the feeling of being touched. The prince caressed the bandage on Keith's face with back of his hand.

"What are you doing?" Keith blinked at the prince suspiciously.

"You are by far, the most intriguing being I have ever met. From the moment you saved my life I knew you were different. You're strong, straight forward and honest; a rare find these days. And your beauty makes you even more desirable." Prince Boulter confessed.

Prince Boulter leaned his head towards Keith. Lance felt the compulsion to run and scream at the prince, but his voice remained frozen and his feet were glued to the ground. It was a gut feeling taking over his unexplained anxiety. Something just told him to standby because Keith wouldn't go through with it. Lance didn't know where the sudden faith came from, but he continued to obey it by standing by.

"May I?" Prince Boulter asked in a hush whisper, merely inches away from Keith's lips.

It took a moment for Keith to realise what was happening and once he knew, he snapped his head away from prince's touch, looking down at the garden from the balcony. It was Keith's silent answer. Sure, Prince Boulter was nice, but he didn't know Boulter. They had one conversation and one dance. If Boulter seriously thought Keith was going to go through with it than he was sadly mistaken.

"You've assumed too much, your highness. And I would appreciate it if you stood back." Keith bluntly stated. He was exactly angry about it, in fact, Keith had half expected something like that to happen since he felt the prince's hand near his buttocks. Keith may have not known too much about the inner workings of how flirting worked, but he was sure that someone trying to touch butt that it meant something.

"My apologies." The prince hurriedly took a few steps back. "I've over stepped my boundaries and for that I apologise."

Keith remained silent for a moment before finding the right words.

"I," Keith began. "…appreciate the gesture, but I can't return it. I hope you understand."

Prince Boulter turned his head back toward the main archway back toward the ballroom. He saw Lance seemingly watching them from afar, glaring at Boulter from where he stood.

The prince felt like he should have known. He got too ahead of himself and the one he adored already had someone. It was in that moment he truly believed that he had treaded on waters he knew he should not have jumped into.

"He's lucky to have you." Prince Boulter sombrely whispered.

Keith immediately grew confused. Keith didn't hear sadness in Boulter's voice, he heard defeat. When Keith turned around to face the prince only to see him walking away and Lance making his way over to him.

In the split moment where Lance and the prince shared eye contact, Lance didn't forget to intensify his glare as Prince Boulter clearly smirked.

When Lance looked back to Keith staring at him, Keith immediately turned and looked back out into the distance, avoiding eye contact with Lance. It didn't take a genius for Lance to take it as a sign to be a bit more cautious. He hesitantly stood beside Keith on the balcony, not forgetting to leave a small distance from each other. A few ticks passed in silence before Lance decided to break it.

"Wow!" Lance exclaimed, slouching over the marble rail of the balcony with a low whistle. "That's one beautiful view. I see why the prince took you out here."

Still looking out into the distance, Keith pondered on giving him the silent treatment for a moment, but he quickly chose against it.

"What are you doing here, Lance?"

"I was looking for you," He replied. "What were you doing out here with the prince?" With Lance's tone, Keith knew what Lance was implying.

"How is that any your business?" Keith snapped, and with what came out next left his mouth before he could restrain his own thoughts. "Or maybe I should ask what you were doing with the princess."

"Princess Arreina?" Lance incredulously asked. "For your information, I can tell you now that she's nice but I'm not interested in her."

Keith blinked. "What?"

"Don't get me wrong, she's a good person, but even if she wasn't a princess, I'm just not feeling that connection."

Keith was almost scared to ask. "And why's that?"

Lance stared back at Keith and he decided to be completely honest. He stared off the balcony and confessed his confusion.

"I don't actually know," Lance forced a chuckle. "It's strange, right?"

"Right," Keith mumbled. "Strange."

Lance looked back over to Keith in time to see a brief glimpse of disappointment flashing across Keith's face. Lance felt a small prickling feeling in his stomach. He couldn't help but jump to his own conclusions as to why Keith seemed disappointed. And all those assumptions involved Keith with Prince Boulter.

"So," Lance hesitantly began. "What about you and Prince Six-Pack? He looked pretty comfortable with himself for a second there."

Keith took a moment to register what Lance had said and realised that Lance suddenly appearing after the whole exchange with Boulter wasn't just coincidence.

"Were you spying on me?" Keith flatly asked.

Lance immediately attempted to justify himself. "No! Well - Yes? I was worried, okay! The prince gave me the creeps. I wanted to make sure that he was treating you...okay."

Keith blinked for a moment. "That's unusually considerate of you."

"Oh-gee. Thanks, Keith." Lance snorted before he turned serious once more. "Of course, I care, you're my friend. I could have sworn that we've been through this already."

 _Friend_. That word is what Keith kept burning into his mind. Lance was his friend. That's what it was and what it always would be. Well, that's what he kept convincing himself.

"If you must know then no; I'm not interested in Prince Boulter. I knew that he liked me, but I'm not exactly the kind of guy to be swept away by a pretty face," he turned his head directly at Lance. "Unlike someone else I know."

"I do not -"

"Nyma." Keith's expression remained deadpanned.

Lance opened his mouth, but he quickly shut it again. "Well – That was one time!"

Keith let out a low laugh and looked back out from the balcony. Lance stepped slightly closer to Keith against the marble railing. This was when Lance's eyes suddenly widened, processing completely what Keith had said.

"Wait. You knew that that the prince was into you?"

"Don't sound so surprised. It wasn't like he was trying to hide it," Keith took a deep breath of fresh air. "I appreciate you checking on me, but I can take care of myself."

Lance's expression became serious. Keith hadn't even spoken to Shiro, and now the two had both told him that. Lance slowly picked at the hemming of his sleeve.

"So, you really don't like- _like_ Prince Boulter?" Lance felt like he was five again phrasing it like that, but Keith didn't seem to care too much.

Keith slowly shook his head. "Not that way, no. Even if I did, I don't think I would know." He gave a small laugh, but Lance immediately let the statement sink in.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked.

"I wouldn't know," Keith repeated. "Besides, Lance, I told you how I grew up so it shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise."

It took a moment for Lance to realise what Keith meant. It's when Lance remembered how Keith had never stayed in one place for too long. Keith didn't have any family or friends. He built walls between him and other people, relying only on himself. Keith barely connected to anyone. So, it suddenly made sense to Lance and he felt guilty for pushing at the question.

Lance opened his mouth but he stopped himself. He didn't know what to say, but as he looked down from the balcony he was reminded of the royal garden. Looking to his right he noticed a short stairwell that lead down.

"Wanna play hookie?" Lance said, suddenly grinning.

"Hookie?" Keith blinked at the sudden question.

"Get away from the party for a bit." Lance explained, knowing it was a bit of an old term. "Let's go explore the garden! It's right down the stairs. No one will even notice we're gone."

"Uh -" Keith didn't get to finish forming a word.

"Let's go!"

Lance would normally grab a hold of Keith's wrist whenever he would drag him somewhere, but without even realising it, Lance grabbed on to Keith's hand and dragged him down the outdoor stairwell.

And maybe, just maybe, having their hands holding the other's felt like something they should have done a long time ago.

* * *

Once the two had strayed far away from the ballroom, King Heranel paused and looked around.

"I am sorry for the secrecy, princess. I have always trsuted my people, but ever since the Galra have attacked Faleea, I feel that some of my people have changed. I don't know how to explain it."

"The first casualty of war is always innocence, your majesty." Allura frowned, she knew all too well of that.

"Indeed," King Heranel hummed in agreement, before suddenly shifting the conversation. "I will try to keep this as brief as is an old riddle, passed down from our ancestors about the supposed location of the relic."

Before the king could continue, Allura suddenly remembered what Pidge had shown her earlier.

"One of the paladin's found a phrase in the galran files from the tower. It said ' _CAEIEC NO LERCI DEHIS EMSYST ELENOPT'_ : Would that be the riddle?"

"That is the one. Yes." Heranel nodded. "I will admit that I did not suspect the Galra to already have knowledge of the riddle. This means that time is running short."

"What does it mean?" Allura asked.

"I don't know for myself what it means exactly, but the only clue I know is this: it's not what it may seem. Up. Down. Forwards. Backwards. It hides," Heranel sighed. "I wish I could tell you the answer, but no one knows the answer. Only clues have been left behind. I'm sorry. I know that it's not a lot to go on."

Allura frowned. The king was right. It really wasn't a lot to go on.

"What else are you able to tell me? Is there anything else you know?"

"Apparently, the riddle itself is much like the place where it is hidden," Heranel explained. "Strength. Wit. Heart. These are things you will need when entering this place. It is said to be a maze of many traps and trials to ensure that it is never taken. But that is all I know of."

King Heranel sighed once more. All he wanted to do was keep his people safe. Allura noticed the saddened expression and she placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small sense of comfort.

"Thank you for trusting me with this information, King Heranel. I can promise you now that Voltron will continue to protect this universe by finding the relic and destroying it."

"I hope you can keep that promise, princess. Not only for the sake of my people, but the sake of the universe." The king specified.

Suddenly Allura's eyes diverted to a lone pillar. She continued to stare suspiciously for longer than a few moments.

"Is something wrong, princess?" King Heranel hesitantly asked.

Allura placed a hand up to silently hush the king. She quickly stalked over to the pillar and she snapped her head around, instantly searching.

"Princess?" Heranel rushed to her side. "What is it?"

Allura sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I thought - Nevermind."

She didn't see anyone there, but she just knew that deep down something was amiss. It still left Allura feeling uneasy.

"Shall we return to the party?" The king suggested.

Allura forced a smile and nodded, her eyes still lingered on the pillar longer than necessary.

Once Allura and King Heranel were gone after a few ticks, the prototype camouflage gear malfunctioned. The Faleean tore off the 'necklace' emitting small sparks. It was no ordinary Faleean. It was one of Princess Arreina's ladies-in-waiting, Vailee. She was lurking behind a pillar in the darkness. Her face was devoid of emotion; it was like she was a blank slate. She pressed the large blue gem in her bracelet. The once blue gem began to glow red, playing back the conversation. She had been recording it.

She pressed against where her earing met her earlobe. It appeared that most of her jewellery were hidden devices.

"Commander Farsh, I have the information he gave to the Altean princess. I am sending it now."

The commander's voice came through the hidden communicator.

 _"Excellent job, you have served me well, subject 12."_

"Vrepit sa."

* * *

Shiro had to admit, once Lance had stormed off to hunt down Keith and the prince, he had half expected to see him slinking back five minutes later, but that wasn't the case. Lance, Keith and Prince Boulter were nowhere in sight.

He was worried that Lance was going to do something impulsively so he kept a sharp eye out for any sign of where they have might have gone off too. It didn't take Shiro long to spot the archway to a large balcony.

Stepping into the open area and away from the ballroom, Shiro heard Lance and Keith's distant voices. He thought that it sounded like arguing until he heard laughing. Shiro had to pause and think to himself if he had heard correctly because the short-stifled laughing sounded a lot like Keith. Looking over the balcony down into the palace garden, that's where Shiro spotted the two missing paladins.

Lance and Keith were just walking down in the garden side by side. The two were admiring the glowing bugs among the shrubbery. Shiro was too far away to hear what they were talking about clearly, but the two seemed to be happily complimenting the bugs. It was obvious that Lance was enjoying the conversation he was having with Keith.

Even from the distance Shiro was away from the pair, he could see Lance's smile as clear as day.

One of the firefly-esque creature ending up going up Keith's nostril. He immediately sneezed it out to then rub his nose vigorously. Lance clenched the sides of his stomach because he was laughing so hard. Keith shot out a glare as Lance practically doubled over with laughter.

Keith attempted to both playfully and lazily punch Lance, but he quickly dodged and leapt up on to higher ground, walking around the stone benches around the fountain. Lance waved around his arms eccentrically. Lance quickly fell straight into the water of the fountain. Keith hunched over, covering his mouth with his hand, trying to cover up his laughter.

Shiro let out his own huff of laughter before he continued to watch the two for a moment longer before he turned back around to join the others back in the ballroom. He knew that the pair would return shortly in their own time. So, with Shiro's growing smile, he decided to leave them be.

"Wow," Keith let out another chuckle of laughter despite himself. "That really just happened."

Lance frowned at his laughter.

"Yeah, I'm sitting in a fountain. It's hilarious," Lance sarcastically replied, pushing back his wet hair. "Now help me out please."

Keith reached out toward Lance's extended out hand, but as soon as his hand got close, Lance grabbed him and dragged him into the fountain water. Keith sat up with his hair wet and slicked down over his face. Lance began laughing because Keith looked like a wet dog.

"Payback has never been sweeter." Lance laughed.

"That's not funny, Lance!" Keith groaned, trying to push hair out of his face.

"Come on, it's a little funny." Lance grinned, obviously amused by Keith's unimpressed expression.

Keith silently glared at him before he then splashed Lance in the face with the fountain water. Lance slowly spat out the water that got into his mouth. The two were silent for a few moments before it was broken by laughter. They began laughing harder than they should have. They thought that maybe it was the pink space drink getting to them, but it wasn't.

"Okay, I'll give you that one. I deserved that one," Lance surrendered with a laugh. "But I totally got you that second time around."

"I did have a weird alien bug fly up my nose. How about we call it even?" Keith suggested.

"Nope, a win is a win and I won." Lance insisted and he smiled in a way that caused Keith to look away.

"Fine," Keith surrendered. "I'll let you have this one."

Lance blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah," Keith nodded, climbing out of the fountain and flopping on to the Faleean's golden grass. It took a second, but Lance quickly joined him on the grass, both staring up at the night's sky. The night on Faleea felt like a warm summer's night back on Earth. It was soothing.

"You know, for a second, looking up at all those stars, it feels like we're back on Earth." Lance stated, absent-mindedly trying to look for any familiar constellations, even though he already knew he wouldn't.

Keith hummed in agreement.

Lance continued. "I miss my family every day, but right now, I just really miss Earth food. I would give anything for a really big slice of pizza right now."

"What's your favourite kind of pizza?" Keith asked, humouring Lance's train of thought.

"Pepperoni, what else?"

"Not my first choice, but yeah, that's good too." Keith admitted. Lance turned his head toward Keith, obviously confused at the answer.

"What pizza would you get?" Lance asked, almost afraid of what the answer would reveal.

"I would get Hawaiian." Keith casually answered.

Lance abruptly gasped. "You have pineapple on pizza!? You disgust me! You insult the very name of pizza!"

"It adds an extra sweetness and crunch. You're just a non-believer of great pizza toppings." Keith rolled his eyes, ignoring Lance's ranting.

"We can't be friends anymore." Lance stated, still obviously disgusted with Keith's pizza choice.

"So that's the deal breaker? Pizza topping difference?" Keith joked as a smile crept up on his face.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they stared up into the star lit sky. It wasn't that Lance felt the need to fill the silence, but it was a sudden question that Lance wanted to know the answer to.

"Keith?" Lance turned his head toward him.

"Yeah?" Keith quietly responded as his eyes were still focused on the stars above.

"What's your favourite food?" Lance asked. Keith slowly turned his head toward Lance.

"My favourite food?" Keith repeated, making sure he had heard correctly.

Lance nodded. "Yeah."

Keith was silent for a moment and he looked away. His face was scrunched up in thought before it suddenly softened and his reply came out like a whisper.

"Ice-cream."

Lance's eyes widened slightly.

"Ice-cream? Really?" Lance asked, his surprise was evident in his voice.

"Yeah. It's really nice on a burning-hot day and there are so many different flavours to choose from."

"What's your favourite flavour?" Lance wanted a specific answer. It was no reason other than the fact that he just wanted to know a little more about Keith.

"Vanilla." Keith didn't take a thinking pause for that one. He knew exactly what the answer was.

"Plain old vanilla?" Lance questioned. "What about cookies and cream or chocolate? Or even rocky road?"

"I like them too, but you can never go wrong with vanilla," Keith smiled, looking back at Lance. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"You always came across as someone that really liked steak or something." Lance admitted.

"Steak?" Keith asked, his face melted in amusement.

"I don't know, forget it I asked." Lance said, shrugging it off.

Keith let it go, not really giving any second thought to the matter. And the two lied down in silence would the odd comment here and there. It was just them with the stars above with the only sound being the distant murmuring from the ballroom.

For Keith, it was in that moment that he felt genuinely at peace. He didn't have to have his guard up and there wasn't an awkwardness. He was at ease, and that itself was rare enough as it was. It also gave him a moment of clarity to really absorb his surroundings.

"Keith?" Lance broke the silence.

"Yeah?" Keith murmured, his eyes shut.

"I hope we defeat the Galra soon." Lance confessed, staring up the stars. He couldn't help his homesickness.

Keith's body reacted before his mind could catch up. He had placed his hand on top of Lance's a gently squeezed. Lance notably stiffened at the sudden contact. Keith felt like he had crossed a boundary and was about to let go, but after a few seconds Lance relaxed. In fact, he shifted his own hand so he could properly curl his own fingers back around Keith's, squeezing back.

As he felt his heart pick up in pace, Keith felt the need to say something.

"I think that your family is looking up at the stars like you are now, waiting for the day you come home with open arms," Keith squeezed Lance's hand once again. "You just need to remember to get back in one piece."

Lance smiled, slowly nodding. "Thanks Keith."

That's when Keith thought Lance would let go of his hand and pretend that it never happened. But Lance did no such thing. He kept Keith's hand intertwined with his.

Lance had always thought that behind the fingerless gloves that Keith's hands would be hard and course. Lance was wrong. Keith's hands were soft.

Before his mind could scold him with thoughts such as 'why are you holding Keith's hand?' or 'why can't you stop smiling?' – He could only think of one thing.

And that was how right it felt to have Keith's hand in his.

But, if only things could remain that simple and clean forever. Not too far away from Faleea, a Galran ship floated in orbit. by

A lone Galra sat in the war room, listening whilst twirling a large golden key in her hand as the conversation between Allura and King Heranel played on repeat on the speakers around her. A Galran soldier came marching in, hesitantly interrupting.

"Ma'am, what is our next move?"

She stopped twirling the key and replied after a long pause.

"Remain in orbit until the Castle of Lions is off Faleea. I've always loved a good race. This should be fun."

"Of course, Commander Farsh." The galra saluted the commander before leaving the deck.

The commander was left alone again with the recording kept replaying. The commander suddenly stood up tall with the key clenched in her claws. She couldn't wait to crush Voltron.

And so the race for the search of the relic of Diesous had begun.

* * *

 **A/N: Just as a reminder again, this is going to be the last installment I put on fanfic. If you want you'd like to still keep reading the series, just find it on AO3.**

 **Thank you so much for reading. See you next time.**


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